le unless by the most indefatigable of
ceramists. The third is a smaller pitcher in mottled unglazed clay,
antique in shape and ornamentation, except that a figure in the costume of
Queen Bess's time stands cheek-by-jowl with a group resembling that on the
Portland Vase. This anachronism caused us to be puzzled by the word
Herculaneum impressed on the bottom, not unworthy as the general beauty of
the work was of such a source. The mystery stands explained by the book
before us. Herculaneum was the name of a manufactory of earthenware near
Liverpool, in this case almost as misleading as the inscription of Julius
Caesar on a dog-collar too hastily inferred to have been worn by a canine
pet of the great dictator.

The author concludes, "as a result of our hunting along the roads of New
England, that there is a great deal of money-value in old crockery which
lies idle in pantries, and that collectors who have money to spend do a
great deal of good in a small way by giving the money for the crockery.
And, strange as you may think it, it is very rare to find an owner of old
pottery in the country, whatever be the family associations, who would not
rather have the money."

_Books Received._

Plays for Private Acting. Translated from the French and Italian. By
Members of the Bellevue Dramatic Club of Newport. (Leisure-Hour Series.)
New York: Henry Holt & Co.

A Primer of German Literature. By Helen S. Conant.--A Year of American
Travel. By Jessie Benton Fremont.--Hints to Women on the Care of Property.
By Alfred Walker. (Harper's Half-Hour Series.) New York: Harper &
Brothers.

A Handbook of Politics for 1878: Being a Record of Important Political
Action, National and State, from July 15, 1876, to July 1, 1878. By Hon.
Edward McPherson, LL.D., of Gettysburg, Pa. Washington: Solomons &
Chapman.

Christine Brownlee's Ordeal. By Mary Patrick.--A Beautiful Woman. By Leon
Brook. (Nos. 7 and 8 of Franklin Square Library.) New York: Harper &
Brothers.

The Cossacks: A Tale of the Caucasus in 1852. By Count Leo Tolstoy.
Translated from the Russian by Eugene Schuyler. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons.

D'ye Want a Shave? or, Yankee Shavings; or, A New Way to get a Wife: A
Three-Act Comedy. By William Bush. St. Louis. William Bush.

Colonel Dunwoddie, Millionaire. (No. 5 Harper's Library of American
Fiction.) New York: Harper & Brothers.

Play-Day Poems. Collected and edited by Rossiter Johnson. (Leisure-Hour
Series.