WATTS’S LITERARY GUIDE. B E I N G A M O N T H L Y R E C O R D O F L I B E R A L A N D A D V A N C E D P U B L I C A T I O N S .

I

No. 93.]

AUGUST 15, 1893.

[Price One Penny.

N E I V P U B L I C A T IO N S .

O U R L I B R A R V S H E L V E S .

T he remarkable discoveries of Professor Edwin Johnson have induced many to rank his name with that of Charles Darwin; and, if the curiosity of the heterodox public be any criterion, there would seem to be justification for the comparison. In response to a widely-expressed wish, Messrs. Watts & Co. will issue immediately cheap popular editions of “ Antiqua Mater : A Study of Christian Origins ” and “ The Rise of Christendom.” These two works contain the results of Mr. Johnson’s life-long studies, and should be read in the order in which they here appear. “ Antiqua Mater,” which extends to 356 pages, will be published at 2s. 6d. ; and “ The Rise of Christendom,” the larger and more important work, at 7s. 6d. The two books will be ready next week.

Mr. J ohn Page Hopps has a limit to his heterodoxy. In immortality he is a fervent believer. He has recently issued, through Messrs. Sonnenschein, under the title of “ Death a Delusion” (is.), an account of some personal experiences on the borderland between sense and soul.

A cheaper edition of Dr. Henry Smith’s “ The Religion of the Brain,” reviewed in our present issue, and which has been favourably noticed by the press, is now published. The price is is.

Messrs. Watts & Co. have issued, in conjunction with the Open Court Publishing Company, an English translation of Professor Ernst Mach’s well-known work dealing with “ The Science of Mechanics ” (10s. 6d.). In a brief preface the author testifies to the excellent, accurate, and faithful rendering of the translation, and confidently hopes that the rise and growth of the ideas of the great inquirers, which he endeavours to portray, will appear to his new public in distinct and sharp outlines. The volume is not a treatise upon the application of the principles of mechanics. Its aim is to clear up ideas, expose the real significance of the matter, and get rid of metaphysical obscurities. The little mathematics it contains is merely secondary to this purpose. Mechanics is treated, not as a branch of mathematics, but as one of the physical sciences.

Mr. Samuel L aing will contribute a lengthy and most effective paper to the forthcoming issue of “ The Agnostic Annual,” in reply to the “ answer” of Mr. F. Hugh Capron to “ Modern Science and Modern Thought.” The rejoinder will also deal with the stock arguments of the “ inspirationists.” Among the other writers will be Mrs. E. Lynn Linton, Mr. Edward Clodd, and Professor Johnson.

P rofessor J ohnson’s series of articles in the Weekly B u lle t in will probably be issued in book form during the autumn publishing season.

T he art of resurrection, of which the thaumaturgists once made an idle profession, is more effectively practised by the skilled biographer who recalls to life the outward form, the habits, and the moral and intellectual soul of great men of the past. A model of biography is Mr. John Morley’s

R O U S S E A U

(Macmillan ; Globe edition ; 1 8 9 1 ; vol. i., 337 pp.; vol. ii., 34S pp.; each 5s.). If a fault is discernible, it lies in the author’s scrupulous accuracy in recording Rousseau’s weaknesses and meannesses, of which the “ Confessions ’’ furnish ample wealth of examples. But that is a testimony to Mr. .Morley’s splendid freedom from mere sentimental favouritism towards his subject. Jean Jacques Rousseau is limned with candour, boldness, and vivacity.

On the whole, Mr. Morley’s inclination is rather towards psychological analysis than graphic portraiture of externals. \ et (and perhaps with a deliberate intention to preserve a due balance of effect) frequent delightful gleams of the picturesque intervene. Take this pretty miniature sketch of the farm-house, Les Charmettes, where Rousseau lived with Madame de Warens : “ The modern traveller with a taste for relieving an imagination strained by great historic monuments and secular landmarks, with the sight of spots associated with the passion and meditation of some farshining teacher of men, may walk a short league from where the gray slate roofs of dull Chambiri bake in the sun ; and, ascending a gently mounting road, with high leafy bank on the right throwing cool shadows over his head, and a stream on the left making music at his feet, he sees an old red house-top lifted lonely above the trees.”

Everything is set down in due order. The writer does not choose out episodes which afford opportunity for rhetorical declamation. To Mr. Morley every incident and season of Rousseau’s career is suggestive and instructive. And so these volumes furnish not only a methodical record of all that Jean Jacques did and wrote, but a continuous flow of reflection and philosophy, rendered fascinating by polished phrase and pregnant epigram. On the one hand, we have a full account of Rousseau’s youth, his conversion to Catholicism, his relations with Madame de Warens and Theresa le Vasseur, his journeyings to Venice and Paris, his romantic sojourn in Madame D’Epinay’s “ Hermitage” at Montmorency, his curious movements in England, and his final and ignominious years in and near Paris. On the other hand, Mr. Morley renders admirable summaries, with running comments and interesting criticism, of Rousseau’s principal writings. Thus extensive notices are devoted to the early “ Discourses ” (1750 and 1754), the “ New Heloisa ” (176 1) , the “ Social Contract” (1762), and “ Emilius ” (1762). But whether examining Rousseau’s literary works, or his deeds and occupations, the author is always on the alert to bring out characteristics. We become impressed under Mr. Morley’s guidance, not only with Rousseau’s curious lack of historical education and his want of humour, but with