Annie H. Small is the author of two slight but well-considered sketches called "Studies in the Faiths," one upon Islam and the other upon Buddhism. (E. P. Dutton & Co.) Both are written from the Christian point of view, and aim to give to Christian readers a compact statement of the essential principles of other faiths.

A new society, called the Malone Society, has just been formed in London for the printing of old plays in strict conformity with the most authentic texts, and also for the publishing of documents and information which may be of interest to students of the English drama. The society hopes to issue eight or ten plays a year.

The Dents in London and the Duttons in this country are publishers of an attractive little series of College Monographs, each of which is devoted to describing and picturing one of the English colleges. The opening volume is upon Trinity College, Cambridge. It is written by W. W. Rouse Ball and illustrated by Edmund H. New. It describes the courts and buildings, outlines the history of the college and gives bright and pleasing glimpses of life at the University.

The Oxford University Press announces "The Oxford Anthology of English Literature," by G. E. and W. H. Hadow, in three volumes, the first volume tracing the course of prose and poetry (other than dramatic) from Beowulf to the Jacobean age; while the second follows the history of the English drama to the same limit, and the third will take up the record at the time of Milton and will continue it to that of Tennyson and Browning. The

examples selected will be accompanied by brief introductions.

"Q's" new book, "From a Cornish Window," will be published in a few days by E. P. Dutton & Co. The work is under the headings of the twelve months of the year, and is dedicated in a characteristic address to Mr. William Archer. E. P. Dutton & Co. will also publish "Jottings of an Old Solicitor," by Sir John Hollams. Sir John has attained the good old age of 86, and has reached the highest rank in his profession. He became a Solicitor in 1844, is a Lieutenant for the city of London, and was knighted in 1902. The book contains reminiscences of the great Judges of recent times, and of the famous Barristers.

A feature of Messrs. Longmans' new list is the number of volumes of correspondence which it announces-or of memoirs based on correspondence. In addition to Dr. Edgar Sheppard's memoirs of the private life of the late Duke of Cambridge-now in the press, in two volumes-the list includes two volumes of "Letters Personal and Literary of Robert Earl of Lytton (Owen Meredith)," edited by his daughter, Lady Betty Balfour, "Correspondence of Two Brothers-Edward Adolphus, 11th Duke of Somerset, and Lord Webb Seymour, 1810-1819, and after," edited by Lady Guendolen Ramsden, third daughter of the 12th Duke of Somerset; and two volumes containing the "Life and Letters of the First Earl of Durham, 1792-1840," by Mr. Stuart J. Reid.

The "Dearlove" of Frances Campbell's new story is a quaint and petted Ichild on whom the devotion of a family group centres, and the "history of her summer's make-believe" describes

a season at Guernsey when her grandfather, the Earl, her mother, his widowed daughter, her uncle, his heir, and her aunt, his daughter-in-law, all play at being children with her. The figure of a pathetic little cripple divides the interest with Dearlove, and the mystery of his parentage determines the plot. The story is strongly marked by that fanciful quality which characterizes this writer's work, but one questions whether the children for whom it was written would not enjoy it better if it were told in a more straightforward style. E. P. Dutton & Co.

Mrs. Campbell Dauncey's "An Englishwoman in the Philippines" (E. P. Dutton & Co.) is a vivid and vivacious account of nine months' journeyings about the islands, and observations of their condition and the attitude of the Filipinos toward the American administration. The book gains in readableness, if it loses something in dignity, from the fact that it is made up of a series of letters written home from day to day as the scenes described fell under the writer's eye. It was Mrs. Dauncey's fortune to be in the islands when the visiting Taft party were there, and to be present at the banquet at Iliolo, when certain notable things were said by Mr. Taft and others. Of this episode, as of others, she writes with amused condescension and with no conspicuous respect for dignities or dignitaries. It may be pardoned to an Englishwoman if she regards rather patronizingly the first American experiment in the government of "little brown men"; but sensitive Americans may feel that she carries her levity and her cynicism too far. Whatever room there may be for differences of opinion on this point, no one will be inclined to deny that the book is bright and diverting; and candid students of the problems involved

in the government of the Philippines may obtain from these gay and occasionally audacious pages some light not found in official reports. The value of the book is enhanced by illustrations.

The twenty-second, twenty-third and twenty-fourth volumes of the Arthur H. Clark Company's reprints of Early Western Travels, edited by Dr. Reuben Gold Thwaites, are taken up with the reproduction of "Travels in the Interior of North America By Maximilian, Prince of Wied," translated from the German by H. Evans Lloyd, and first printed in London in 1843. Prince Maximilian was an enthusiastic German savant, with a special inclination toward exploration in new countries and the study of primitive civilizations. He spent two years in an expedition to Brazil before he embarked upon the greater enterprise, in 1832, of exploring the then little traversed regions of the far west and northwest of North America. He did his work in a serious and leisurely manner, making notes and collections as he went, spending considerable periods of time at fur trading posts and other settlements, and studying the ways and customs of the aborigines closely. He had for a companion an artist, who made excellent pictures of what he saw.

His narrative is written in an easy and direct style, and is fully supplied with scientific detail but not overloaded with it. The present edition is more complete than the London edition, -which it follows in the main,-in that it gives the twenty-three Indian vocabularies, which appeared in the original German edition, and also Maximilian's account of the Indian sign language, his catalogue of birds for both the Missouri and Wabash river val leys, and a summary of his meteorological observations on the upper Missouri. These add materially to the scientific value of the present edition.

II.

A FORGOTTEN AIR.

'Tis the ecstasy of repose,
"Tis love when tired lids close,
"Tis the wood's long shuddering
In the embrace of the wind,
"Tis, where gray boughs are thinned,
Little voices that sing.

O fresh and frail is the sound
That twitters above, around,
Like the sweet tiny sigh
That dies in the shaken grass;
Or the sound when waters pass
And the pebbles shrink and cry.

What soul is this that complains
Over the sleeping plains,

And what is it that it saith?
Is it mine, is it thine,

This lowly hymn I divine

In the warm night, low as a breath?

In the recent resolution calling for a reduction of military expenditure, the House of Commons gave ostensible support to the method of effecting this purpose by an international agreement for the reduction of armaments. One cannot doubt that in this the House did more than it intended. It would appear that, in the ardor of its impulse to give support to the main part of the resolution, the latter portion, relating to the means of carrying out its purpose, was overlooked; and thus what some minds cannot regard as other than a very unsatisfactory scheme was endorsed.

At the first Hague Conference one section occupied itself with schemes for the limitation of armaments; and, after pointing out the many difficulties, they let the subject drop. To infer from this that no such scheme is practical would not be wise; but we are bound to call upon those who propose this method of dealing with the problem to show how it can be practically carried out. One objection to any scheme for the limitation of armaments is the difficulty of securing a satisfactory ratio. To take the simplest form of such an agreement-one relating to amount of expenditure only. On what basis is the amount of each nation to be determined? Are all to be alike? Is it likely the greater nations will agree to that? Then what other? One pro posal is that the agreement shall be not to exceed the average expenditure of the preceding three years. This would be satisfactory to the nations which have maintained a high standard during this period, but it is not likely to be acceptable to those that have been left behind. The great defect, however, of this method, is that it would be impossible for any of the nations to

have assurance that the others were faithfully carrying out the agreement. Each nation has control of its own resources, and it would not be difficult for any to violate the agreement without the others knowing it. Even in those States where military expenditure is publicly stated, there are ways by which the nation's fighting forces might be considerably increased without showing it at once. It would not be difficult, if war should be threatening, to induce, let us say, a patriotic firm of ship-builders to build a vessel on credit, with assurance of future payment; nor would it be difficult to raise money privately and secretly in the same way. Can any such scheme be regarded as satisfactory?

If a scheme for the limitation of armaments could be carried out, it would be one of relation. It would be the maintenance at a stationary ratio of certain proportionate forces. If we are anxious to have this relation keptas the proposal of such a scheme would imply-why don't we try to keep it without regard to agreements with other nations? In our modesty, we have assumed that we are entitled to keep a naval force equal to those of any other two nations. But this proportion has not been maintained. And by whom has it been infringed? Not by other nations, but by us. We have so far exceeded this proportion during recent years that our naval forces are now about equal to the combined forces of any other three nations. To an outside observer our position must appear ridiculous. It will seem incredible that this increased expenditure, about which we appear to be anxious to make agreements for its limitation, is not in the least caused by compulsion. If we desire to have