In the New Story of the Bible,1 Mr. W. A. Leonard gathers together the general results of the new view of the Bible, which does not result from such attacks as Ingersoll's, but from the more patient and elaborate and learned study of those who are inelegantly called "the higher critics." It is a useful summary, and the fact that it has reached a second edition shows that it is appreciated.

Herr Ludwig Kuhlenbech, in Vous unendlichen All und den Welten,2 now in its second edition, provides German readers with an annotated translation of Giordano Bruno's Italian dialogue, entitled De l'Infinito, Universo, e Mondi, which, together with De la Causa, Principio, ed Uno, not only attack the cosmology of Ptolemy, Aristotle, and the medievals, but also present us, in brilliant dialogue form, with De Nolan's most important views on the science in question. In a long and deeply-interesting preface, the translator treats of the scientific value of this dialogue, Bruno's relation to Copernicus and his predecessors, and the idea of infinity. Herr Kuhlenbeck adduces evidence to prove that Spinoza, Leibnitz and Descartes borrowed largely from Bruno's philosophy, without acknowledging their indebtedness. In the case of the last-named the Jesuit, Peter Daniel Huetius-a former pupil of Descartes, who afterwards became Bishop of Soissons-exposed in Censura philosophia Cartesiana (1690) the plagiarism and the lack of literary honesty on the part of his old master.

SOCIOLOGY, POLITICS AND JURISPRUDENCE

Canada and the Empire: an Examination of Trade Preferences, is an important contribution to the Fiscal literature. The authors are Messrs. Edwin S. Montague and Bron Herbert, who, as Lord Rosebery tells ns in the preface he has written for the book, "are two young men, sincere and convinced Imperialists, who went to Canada last autumn with the earnest desire to ascertain the truth for themselves and on the spot." The result of their inquiries is what might have been expected. It is, as Lord Rosebery points out, to strengthen the position of those of us who have from the commencement of the fiscal controversy contended that Mr. Chamberlain's panacea is not a pro

1 The New Story of the Bible. By W. A. Leonard. Second Edition. London: Watts & Co. 1904.

Verdeutscht und

2 Giordano Bruno, Vous unendlichen All und den Welten. erlaütert von Ludwig Kuhlenbeck. Verlegt bei Eugen Diederichs in Jena. 1904. 3 Canada and the Empire. An Examination of Trade Preferences. By Edwin S. Montagu and Bron Herbert. With a Preface by the Right Hon. the Earl of Rosebery, K.G. London: P. S. King & Son. 1904.

Another danger to

bable bond but a possible dissolvent of empire. which the authors direct attention is the continued misrepresentations by the London Tory press of the Liberal party. Liberalism is predominant throughout the self-governing colonies-we have just seen a further strengthening of the Liberal Government in Canada— and the national sympathy of Colonials should be with the Liberals in the old country. But owing partly to those misrepresentations, and partly, we fear, to the action of some of our Liberal Front Benchmen, the Colonies seem imbued with the idea that the present reactionary Tory misrule is necessary to the salvation of the Empire. A greater mistake was never made from the Colonial standpoint. Their very existence as independent communities is directly due to Liberal principles, and a Tory Government will be the first to curb this independence when it gets the chance, as it has already done with the effective independence of representative government at home. The continued existence of Tory supremacy is a menace not merely to free institutions in the home country, but throughout the empire. Toryism has still to learn the difference between what, as Lord Rosebery expresses it, aims at empire and what makes for Empire. The appendices contain extracts from Canadian publications and opinions from representative Canadians with reference to the subjects of discussion. The whole forms a valuable mine of information upon one of the most important branches of the fiscal controversy.

Every one will welcome Fiscal Reform Sixty Years Ago,1 containing extracts from the Free Trade speeches of the Right Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers, selected by Mr. Wilbraham Villiers Cooper. Next to Adam Smith, it is to Villiers that we must look as the originator of the Free Trade movement. Inside the House and out he stood alone, "the solitary Robinson Crusoe standing upon the barren rock of Corn-Law Repeal," as he was jeeringly described by Monckton Milnes. He was the leader of a forlorn hope years before Cobden and Bright had been heard of as politicians. At length the victory was won, and to no one was its achievement due more than to Villiers. It is all the sadder, therefore, that the hero of the Free Trade Movement in his old age should, by his countenance of the Tory party, have contributed so largely to the present reactionary Protectionist movement. The Liberal Unionists, by shutting the door to free government in Ireland, have, for the last twenty years, succeeded in damping down progressive principles in England in every direction.

L'Evolution du Protectionisme, 2 by M. G. De Molinari, which

1 Fiscal Reform Sixty Years Ago. Passages from the Speeches of the Right Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers. Selected by Wilbraham Villiers Cooper. London: T.

• L'Evolution du Protectionisme. Par G. De Molinari. Paris: Guillaume et Cie. 1903.

VOL. 162.—No. 6.

3 B

appeared in the Journal des Economistes for December 1903, is worthy of the attention of students of the present fiscal controversy. The human race, writes M. De Molinari, obeys, like all other animals, the law of the economy of labour or the line of least resistance. To the force of this law are due inventions, machinery, and labour-saving processes, and to the same law is due the localisation of industries in situations where, owing to the sun, climate, the necessary raw material, or other agencies, the greatest production is obtained with the least labour. With fresh discoveries and inventions these localities lose their pre-eminence, and the history of protectionism is the attempt to retain industries in situations which are no longer so suitable for the purpose as others. As M. De Molinari points out, the loss is hard on the individual industries, but the individual loss must give way to the general gain. With the new sea route to the East, England and Holland gained the trade lost by Venice and Genoa, but if Protection could have had its way, the new route would have been banned, to the general loss of Europe, in order that Venice and Genoa might retain the monopoly of the Eastern trade. So to-day Mr. Chamberlain is asking that the colonial trade, which is the smallest, may be protected, to the loss of the larger home trade. This is only another instance of the eternal force of root principles. It is one of the laws of nature that the general good can only be attained by some individual loss. The Tory mind, blind as a rule to the lessons of history, persists in ignoring this natural law, and so attempts to bolster up institutions and industries which have lost their raison d'être.

In its frantic advocacy of Protection the Times is urging the public to take protectionist countries as our model. This shows the depths to which the tariff reformers are reduced, for nothing in the past has been so difficult as to induce the Tory mind to grasp the value of taking advantage of the experience of other countries. Hitherto the answer has always been that institutions suitable to foreigners cannot possibly be adopted by "true born English men," and when we have appealed to valuable lessons to be learned from colonial experiments we are told that situation, climate, and what not render any comparison valueless. We trust that Miss Edith Sellers' The Danish Poor Relief System: an Example for England,1 will meet with a better fate. We are now in the throes of a poor law problem of increasing magnitude and difficulty, and any assistance from foreign or colonial experience is especially welcome. In 1891 two statutes were passed in Denmark, the Poor-Law Reform Bill and the Old-Age Relief Bill. The object of these measures and the principles on which they were based was to ensure to every destitute person treatment according to his merits. They were

1 The Danish Poor Relief System. An Example for England. By Edith Sellers. London: P. 8. King & Son. 1904.

attempts to solve the problem of dealing equitably with the wornout or unfortunate worker and the sturdy professional tramp. As the author points out, this system is still in the experimental stage, but it has been sufficiently long in force to teach those willing to learn many valuable lessons. All Danish politicians admit that it is still open to improvement, but we agree with the author that, even so, Denmark has good cause to be proud of her poor-relief system, for it is both more humane and more just than that in force in any other country. We congratulate Miss Sellers upon a sterling piece of work which is bound to attract a large share of public attention, in spite of the Tory aversion to "foreign examples."

Markets, Fairs, and Slaughter-houses,1 by Mr. Frank Noel Keen, consists of a collection of special provisions relating to those institutions contained in the Private Acts of Parliament and Provisional Orders obtained by municipal corporations and urban district councils in the years 1901-3. The book is professedly only a compilation, but the precedents are selected with discernment and care, and should prove of great assistance to practitioners and local authorities.

BELLES LETTRES.

Courses of Study,1 by Mr. John M. Robertson, may rather be regarded as a catalogue raisonné to assist "the ordinary unlearned man to avail himself of the stores of knowledge which lie around him in books, than a bibliographical compilation such as Mr. W. Swan Sonnenschein,2 The Best Books; or A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literature. Although disclaiming a theorectically logical scheme, such as Comte's, of the relation and order of studies, yet Mr. Robertson has arranged the papers in a series roughly corresponding to his own theory of the revolution of human ideas. Starting from anthropology, comparative mythology and hierology, he next indicates sources of information on the "making" of Judaism and Christianity. From philosophy he proceeds to history, giving (1) general surveys; (2) national and racial histories. The next natural division of the work includes (1) the history of civilisation in general; (2) that of particular phases of civilisation; (3) the history of the fine arts. Mr. Robertson holds logic in slight esteem, being

1 Markets, Fairs, and Slaughter-houses. Compiled and Arranged by Frank Noel Keen, of the Middle Temple, Barrister-at-Law. Westminster: P. S. King & Son. 2 Courses of Study. Edited by John M. Robertson. London: Watts & Co. Rationalist Press Association. 1904.

1904.

of opinion that" right methods of reasoning are best to be acquired by actual contact with the problems which life presents to the reason." He appeals, therefore, to the so-called "common" (i.e. untrained) "sense" of mankind, because, forsooth, the Aristotelian logic, or older à priori method, "has drifted insensibly towards a psychological study of the processes of the intelligence." The national and racial histories" are excellent; and the work, as a whole, is very good.

A Bristol Printing House,1 by Mr. Edward Everard, is a sumptuonsly illustrated volume exhibiting the marvels of modern colour-printing. It is primarily a record of his recently erected printing establishment, which has been built on fifteenth-century lines, embodying, by means of ceramics, colour with design, with the object of proving the advantages derivable from a close alliance between the arts and crafts. The initial chapter contains many pretty little views of Bristol buildings. Mr. Everard, in the spirit of a true artist, laments the deplorable effect of trades' unions on art by exacting the payment of a uniform wage irrespective of the individual skill on the part of craftsmen.

The second and carefully revised and enlarged edition of Matriculation English,2 by Messrs. W. H. Low and John Briggs is a sensible improvement on the book which we noticed in terms of unstinted praise in the WESTMINSTER REVIEW last autumn. The chapters on Metre and on Style and Dictation are new; additional examples for Analysis, Parsing, and Paraphrasing are given; and matter has been added dealing with Summaries, with a view to précis. As the work really covers the whole of the revised syllabus in English (except "the salient facts of English History and General Geography"), the candidate who would dispense with so safe a guide might not unjustly be stigmatised as being indifferent to his fate in the examination-hall.

Matriculation French Reader,3 by Mons. J. A. Perret, consists of a roughly graduated selection of prose and verse extracts compiled for learners who have only read a little easy French, but have mastered the accidence of the language. The extracts are admirably adapted for the purpose the editor has in view, the Notes are succinct and informative, whilst the Vocabulary, which has been carefully drawn up by Miss S. R. Webster, M.A., Lond., should enable the student to dispense with a dictionary. We hear nothing but praise for this book, which is the outcome of scholarship combined with ripe experience in tuition. It includes many pieces already set at the

1 A Bristol Printing House. By Edward Everard. London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, & Co.

2 Matriculation English Course. By W. H. Low, M.A. Lond., and John Briggs, M.A., F.L.S. Second Edition, Fifth Impression. London: W. B. Clive. 1904. 3 Matriculation French Reader. Edited by J. A. Perret. London: W. B. Clive.