quoting from the Gospels, that "there ought to be no doubt from these passages that Jesus Christ was begotten miraculously by the Holy Ghost," and other things belonging to the same orthodox category. On the philosophical side we have an exposition of spiritsubstance and the ethereal medium, which seems familiar to us; and his reference to the "old Scottish philosophy of common sense," and the use of terms which are rarely, if ever, heard in England, help us to localise the author as a North Briton. With one example of his manner of interpreting Scripture we will leave the author to his readers. The reference is to Christ turning water into wine. He says: His object was not to please men, especially in animal gratification; and it is quite lawful to believe that in this case He ministered to a party who were in pecuniary difficulties, by giving that which could be turned into money." If so, even then we may remark that the wine would ultimately minister to some one's animal gratification. Not that we object to that in moderation. In Mr. Welch's brief biography of Anselm 1 we have a most concise and admirable account of the great churchman and theologian. The story of his life is well told, and cannot be read without sympathy and interest; while an intelligent analysis of his principal theological writings enables the reader to appreciate the services he rendered to religion and the advance he made upon the cruder theories of earlier centuries.

In rather more than 400 pages, Mr. Adams gives an account of the lives of more than fifty Saints and Missionaries of the AngloSaxon Era,2 from St. Guthlac (A D. 714) to St. Margaret of Scotland (A.D. 1093). It necessarily follows that most of the sketches are very brief, though a few, such as the accounts of Edward the Confessor and St. Dunstan, are much more ample. The volume contains a large number of illustrations, most of them being photographs from old pictures in the British Museum. We feel tempted to say that these illustrations are the best part of the book, though it is altogether a very good one of its class and admirably adapted for young people.

After the passing of the Toleration Act in 1689, which gave Dissenters, for the first time, liberty to practise public worship in their own way, they began to build chapels for themselves, in place of the barns, stables, and private rooms in which they had been accustomed to meet. It therefore happens that many of these chapels have recently completed their second century of existence, and in some cases, especially where the present congregations are Unitarian, this event has been marked, not only by a local celebration, but also by the production of a history of the

1 Anselm and his Work. By the Rev. A. C. Welch, M.A., B.D. ("The World's Epoch Makers.") Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 1901.

2 The Saints and Missionaries of the Anglo-Saxon Era (Second Series). By the Rev. D. C. O. Adams, M.A. Oxford and London: A. R. Mowbray & Co.

chapel and its congregation. Matthew Henry and His Chapel1 is a very good example of these historical accounts, which have considerable value for all who are interested in the history of Dissent in England. Matthew Henry's chapel was erected in Chester 1700 for the famous expositor, and Mr. Roberts gives a variety of interesting particulars concerning Henry, his family and his labours, and of various matters relating to the congregation up to the present time. The trust-deed of the chapel describes it as being for the use of "Protestant Dissenters," though it has sometimes incorrectly been called Presbyterian.

Senator Gaetano Negri, perhaps the greatest thinker of modern Italy, certainly the most clear-headed philosopher and writer of Italy, has written a book2 which seems to excel, for philosophical and literary merits, any previous work of his. In this book Senator Negri deals with a subject which has lately received much more attention than it did for the previous fourteen centuries. He approaches his subject with no prejudices whatever. Having deeply studied the character of the man and of his times, he speaks of the Emperor Julian with knowledge and sincerity. Of Julian's genius and statesmanship, as an administrator and as a chieftain, he is a great admirer, and what he has to say on these two points clearly bears out the contention of the author that "Julian was a man of great intellectual power and determination, a born ruler of men, an upright and honest man, who would have somewhat retrieved the deplorable condition in which the Imperial Crown had fallen under his three predecessors." The author introduces the subject of his book in a most sympathetic, nay, enthusiastic way. He writes: "The fate of Emperor Julian was indeed miserable. No personality during the decaying period of the Roman Empire appears more original, more interesting, more attractive than his. But the ecclesiastical tradition was dead against him, and has marked him out with the stigma of Apostate,' and with such a mark he has been condemned to ignominy and obscurity. As always is the case in polemical works, truth had to be banished to make room for passion and party interest. But all the abuses and curses of the Church could not destroy the fact that both the personality of the Emperor and his actions are highly interesting, and that Julian was a very genial man, a man who having been suddenly called to a supreme military command, and to face a situation that seemed hopeless, in a very short time reveals himself a great general and sagacious administrator." The part of the book devoted to a biographical sketch of Julian is full of striking passages from the writings of the Emperor himself, and from the writings of some of

6

Matthew Henry and His Chapel (1662-1900). By H. D. Roberts. The Liverpool Booksellers' Company, Ltd.

2 L'Imperatore Giuliano L'Apostata. Studio storico di Gaetano Negri. Hoepli,

Milan. 1901.

VOL. 156.-No. 6.

3 A

his contemporaries. Julian had a great faith in the gods, he often appealed to them for counsel. Soon after he took the decision of usurping the Imperial Crown, he told his friends: "Last night a vision appeared before me and told me, 'Julian! more than once I stood at thy threshold, intending to increase thy power and dignity, but I had always to withdraw, being rejected by thee. If, even now, thou dost not receive me, I will leave thee, mortified and sad, but keep it in mind, this will be the last time I knock at thy door.”” The same vision re-appeared to Julian on the last night of his existence; it approached Julian's tent, and with a sad countenance lett it; Julian saw by that his hour had come. "That strong man," writes Senator Negri, "is not discouraged; the omen is against him, but fearless he goes to the battle, and an arrow pierced his noble heart." The author gives several quotations from the writings of those who were present, according to which the arrow was not a Persian one, but a Roman (Christian), Julianum telo cecidisse Romano. The last scene has been written by Ammianus, who was present, and who has recorded also the last speech of Julian. A few words from the same will show how this great Emperor died. "It has come," he said, "the moment for me to go, and as a willing debtor I am pleased to pay my debt to Nature. As the soul is worth much more than the body, we have rather to rejoice than be grieved when the better part separates itself from the worse part. I have nothing to repent; I am not sorry for anything I have done. Pleased and fearless I went there, where the mother Republic sent me, and I have always firmly withstood the adverse fate." In concluding this part the author says: "He was the last hero of Hellenism; he had raised up the flag of Hellenism, and for a little while he unfurled it, to fall again to the ground with his death, never to be lifted up again." If veritably great Senator Negri appears to be when he writes the history of that unhappy Emperor, not less great he appears when he enters. boldly and well armed into the philosophical, metaphysical aspects of his subject, in the course of which he discusses of the discord among the Christians, the Neoplatonism (its origin, causes, and defeat), and of Julian's action against Christianism. This very interesting book closes up with two chapters-one on the character of Julian as a man and a prince, and the other containing a most interesting summing-up of the religious currents and under-currents of those days. Undoubtedly, from a philosophical point of view, the author appears to his best advantage where he describes the peculiar condition of the Christian Church, which even at that early period of its existence at Milan was pure, and at Constantinople it was already worldly and corrupted; and as for the character of the Christians of those days, he clearly shows that the "Apostate" Julian was much more of a Christian that his Christian

opponents. Two currents were then struggling, one against the other. The Hellenic and the Roman both had a substratum of Paganism, both wanted to turn to their account the teaching of the Gospels. The Neoplatonism strove to save the ancient Hellenism by introducing as much of the teaching of Christ as was compatible with their mythology; while the neo-Christianism strove to conquer the future by introducing into the new and simple religion of Christ as much Hellenism as was necessary to render the new religion attractive to the people. Julian was the exponent of the former; and as we have already seen, an arrow pierced his heart, and the last battle of Hellenism was lost for ever.

SOCIOLOGY, POLITICS, AND JURISPRUDENCE.

MR. CHARLES CARRINGTON, the English publisher in Paris, has recently been heavily fined to the tune of £120 for advertising the reprint of La Jeunesse rendue aux Vieillard, originally written in Arabic by Kamil Pasha to the order of Sultan Selim four centuries ago. It is said by Mohammed Abdul Futtah to be a scientific work. This judgment, we may add, is under appeal. We mention these facts because we have before us Passion and Criminality in France: a Legal and Literary Study,1 by M. Louis Proal, a well-known criminologist. M. Proal holds a high position in the legal profession in France, being one of the presiding judges at the Court of Appeal of Riom, in the Puy-de-Dôme. As Juge d'Instruction in Paris, and as a public prosecutor and advocate, he has had a large experience at first hand with criminals and persons of degenerate types. As Laureate of the "Institute" M. Proal is well qualified for the literary side of this work, in which he displays a wide and extensive knowledge of the literature of his native land. The book is published by Mr. Carrington in Paris, and is translated by Mr. A. L. Allinson, an Oxford scholar. It is somewhat similar in its treatment to the Psychology of Sex, by Mr. Havelock Ellis; and notwithstanding its scientific character and high position of its author, we should not be at all surprised if in this country it meets with a similar fate to that of Mr. Ellis' book at the hands of some "respectable" magistrate, backed up by a loud-mouthed section of the British public, which makes up for what it lacks in real virtue by noisy and aggressive hypocrisy. Whilst this work is of peculiar interest to Frenchmen, inasmuch as it deals with circumstances and dangers inherent in

1 Passion and Criminality in France: a Legal and Literary Study. By Louis Proal. Translated from the French by A. R. Allinson, M.A., Oxon. Paris: Charles Carrington. 1901.

French society, yet it contains innumerable lessons of vital importance to the welfare of all civilised communities. In the treatment of crime as determined by the sexual passions there is, of course, much that one would not place before young people of either sex with impunity, yet there is nothing prurient and nothing which is intended to incite, such as we find in much of the obscene literature so widely advertised. Indeed, if the majority of novels and poems were as harmless in this respect the world would be all the sweeter. Unfortunately, the British public rightly deserves its title of "canting" applied by our Continental neighbours, and in its thickheadedness fails to discriminate between a valuable scientific work

like the present and a filthy society novel. But whilst attributing rightly much crime to the sexual passions, M. Proal does not forget how largely drink enters into the causes of crimes. Sexual passions are largely influenced by alcohol, and alcoholism has, says Mr. Proal, made appalling progress in Paris, and developed to an incredible degree the worst instincts of profligacy and violence. "While," he writes, "I was Judge at the Correctional Tribunal of the Department of the Seine, I found fully a half of all offences might be attributed to drunkenness." Much might be counteracted by judicious legislation, of which Norway is given as an instance. an instance. Increase of drunkenness and indecency, licence of the Press and the stage, are not, says M. Proal, the inevitable consequences of civilisation. To the sociologist and criminalogist, to the student of ethics and psychology, as well as to the general reader, this work may be confidently recommended as indispensable. We cannot conclude without congratulating the translator upon his excellent rendering.

The Life of a Century, 1800 to 1900,1 by Mr. Edwin Hodder, is intended, as the author states in the preface, "to give a readable narrative of the state of Great Britain and her dependencies at the beginning of the nineteenth century, in relation to politics, religion, ethics, trade and commerce, art, science, philanthropy, sociology, sports and pastimes, and the drama, and to trace the developments of these subjects throughout the past hundred years." This intention has been admirably carried out by Mr. Hodder, and although the work is necessarily divided into sections, it is not a mere compilation made up of compartments without any relation to each other. In giving the life of the nation during this period, Mr. Hodder has kept well to the front its development and marvellous progress, and has preserved from first to last this main idea. No phase of our national life has been too small to escape attention, and the result is a story which is as entertaining as the most exciting fiction and much more wholesome. Of our earlier customs and manners and of the social condition of the masses Mr. Hodder gives

1 The Life of a Century, 1800-1900. By Edwin Hodder. With Five Hundred and Nineteen Illustrations. London: George Newnes, Ltd. 1901.