icnic over again, under the beech tree, where the brown thrush
built her nest, and reared her young ones, who ate our crumbs,
and chirped merrily when we laughed.--_Lolly Dinks's Mother_.

* * * * *

Doth a man reproach thee for being proud or ill-natured, envious
or conceited, ignorant or detractive, consider with thyself
whether his reproaches be true. If they are not, consider that
thou art not the person whom he reproaches, but that he reviles
an imaginary being, and perhaps loves what thou really art,
although he hates what thou appearest to be. If his reproaches
are true, if thou art the envious, ill-natured man he takes
thee for, give thyself another turn, become mild, affable
and obliging, and his reproaches of thee naturally cease. His
reproaches may indeed continue, but thou art no longer the person
he reproaches.--_Epictetus_.

_LITERATURE._

"Of the making of many books there is no end," said the Wise Man
of old. Of the making of good books there is frequently an end,
say we. The good books of one year may be counted on the fingers
of one hand. Among those of the present year none ranks higher
than Taine's "Art in Greece," a translation of which, by Mr. John
Durand, is published by Messrs. Holt & Williams. The French are
a nation of critics, and Taine is the critic of the French.
This could not have been said with truth during the lifetime of
Sainte-Beuve, but since his death it is true. There is nothing,
apparently, which Taine is not competent to criticise, so subtle
is his intellect, and so wide the range of his studies, but what
he is most competent to criticise is Art. We have heard great
things of a History of English Literature by him, but as it has
not yet appeared in an English dress (although Messrs. Holt &
Williams have a translation of it in press) we shall reserve our
decision until it appears. Art, it seems to us, is the specialty
to which Taine has devoted himself, with the enthusiasm peculiar
to his countrymen, and a thoroughness peculiar to himself.
Others may have accumulated greater stores of art-knowledge--the
knowledge indispensable to the historian of Art, and the
biographer of artists--but none has so saturated himself with the
spirit of Art as Taine. We may not always agree with him, but he
is always worth listening to, and what he says is worthy of
our serious consideration. We think he is _too_ philosophical
sometimes, but then the fault