ants are unwholesome
absorbents of vital air, and that for him the ideal of a garden would
be a succession of asphaltum paths, with fine-cushioned seats, and
narghiles for ever burning in the guise of flowers and shrubbery. A
retort of Sainte-Betive's shows the sincerity of his free-thinking
opinions. Madame Sand having declared that she was sure we had
three souls--one for our bodily organs, one for society and one for
worship--the critic replied, "I wish we could be sure that we had
one." There is a delightful chapter, dated 1831, where Chopin and
Delacroix encounter each other at the author's Paris home, where the
painter explains the principle of reflections to Maurice Sand, and
Chopin plays the piano so entrancingly for his auditor that the
episode of a bed-room on fire passes by unnoticed. Of Maurice Sand,
gifted son of an inspired mother, there is an exquisite chapter of
literary criticism tempered with maternity. Other papers treat of
infantine instruction as practiced by the writer herself, and readers
are conscious of a thrill of envy at the thought of that little circle
of Dudevantine grandchildren learning the elements of spelling and
grammar from such a mistress of style, and with all the advantages
due to the noble teacher's genius for simplification. A chapter on
punctuation, which has been largely quoted both in French and English,
is incorporated, and there are eventless and fascinating records of
the wonderful drives around Nohant. The little brochure is a pure cup
of refreshment.

_Books Received_.

The Nesbits; or, A Mother's Last Request, and Other Tales. By Uncle
Paul. New York: Catholic Publication Society.

Rouge et Noir. From the French of Edmond About. By E.R. Philadelphia:
Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger.

Florida and South Carolina as Health Resorts. By William W. Morland,
M.D., Harv. Boston: James Campbell.

Third Annual Report of the Board of Education of the State of Rhode
Island. Providence: Providence Press Co.

High Life in New York. By Jonathan Slick. Illustrated. Philadelphia:
T.B. Peterson & Brothers.

Pay-day at Babel, and Odes. By Robert Burton Rodney, U.S.N. New York:
D. van Nostrand.

Report of the Commissioner of Fisheries of the State of New York.
Albany: The Argus Company.

Lord Hope's Choice. By Mrs. Ann S. Stephens. Philadelphia: T.B.
Peterson & Brothers.

The New Japan Primer. Number One. San Francisco: A.L. Bancroft & Co.

Miss Leslie's New Cook Book