Reviews.

REVIEWS .

Al Books intended for Eeview should be addressed to the Editor of The Freemason ' s Chronicle , 87 Barbican , E . C . Register of the Various Masonic Bodies holding regular meetings , under Warrant , at the Village of Maitland , in tho County of

Granville , Province of Ontario , Dominion of Canada , in the year 1876 . Ottawa : Printed by the Citizen Printing and Publishing Company . THE publication of this Register must be taken as evidence of the energy and will with which Masons and Members of the high and

aide degrees pursue their duties in the Village of Maitland . It contains a list of officers of the several bodies , their places and times of meeting , as well as a table of the fees and annual dues of each . It is highly creditable that such a Register should make its appearance in a place yet small enough to be described as a village . There are

many larger places where a guide of this kind would experience a very cold reception indeed , or meet , perhaps , with no encouragement whatever . It is manifest the compilers of this have reason to look for support . We presume so , at least , or we scarcely think they

would have incurred the expense of printing and publishing . As to the manner in which the Register has been compiled , it seems to ns that no pains havo been spared to make it as complete as possible . It is well arranged and free from needless detail , and certainly merits support from the various bodies of which it gives particulars .

Magazines Of The Month.

MAGAZINES OF THE MONTH .

WE cannot say we think very highly of the political article—a " Review of the Session "—which appears this month in Blackwood It seems to us to lack some of that vigour which generally characterises these papers . But , with this exception , the number is an admirable one . We have reached Part IV . of " A Woman Hater , " and the further we advance in the story the more we like it . The

personages who stand out most prominently are the Klosking , Harrington and Zoe Vizard , Fanny , and Mr . Severne ; the most attractive scene , a gaming salon ; the occasion , an evening when the bank is broken , by none other than the Klosking , who quits the room winner of close on £ 5 , 000 . The tale is well conceived , and we are gradually beginning to obtain a clearer insight into its intricacies . No . II . of

" Devious Rambles with a Definite Object , " carries us across the German Ocean to the land of clams , and we make acquaintance with many varieties of Dutch life , past and present , an old and little known narrative of a Mrs . Caldervvood ' s tour in Holland supplying the sketches of Dutch life , in tho days , long gone by , of hoops , fans , periwigs , & c , & c . Next comes an excellent paper on " Speculative Investments , " and then two accounts of the " Loss of the

Strathmore , " the narrators being Mrs . and Mr . Wordsworth . " Politics and War , Reviewed from the Alps , " is the subject of the fourth in the series of " A Wanderer's Letters . " Very well written is this series , and the present letter is no exception . Some lines on " Tho Twelfth of August , " and a sketch of " Alfred de Mussefc , " complete the list of contributions . It will be seen from this that only in the political part of the programme is there noticeable any falling off in point of merit .

Just at this moment , when Turkey and its people occupy so prominent , and in some respects unenviable a position before Europe , the article in Cornhill " On Turkish Ways and Turkish Women " is pretty certain to find a host of readers . Though there are many among us whose denunciations of tho Turk and his ways are both loud and frequent , we doubt if more than a limited few of these self-sufficient

critics know much , if anything , about Turkish domestic life . The paper under notice contains a full account of life in the Harem , and as tho writer announces in the opening lines that she spent five years of her life , between 1867 and 1872 , in a harem in Constant ! - nople , we have faith in the accuracy of her description . And not only this , bufc we think the tone of her remarks , and indeed her

account generally , are indicative of the Turk not being so black aa people just now are striving to paint him . Polygamy and slavery are a grievous sin in the eyes of Englishmen , bufc Englishmen are not the only moral people who have lived on the face of this earth . We have no sympathy whatever with these two institutions . We are simply desirous of pointing out thafc the Turks are by no means the

utter barbarians they are so often represented to be . At all events , let those who care to learn something trustworthy of the domestic life of a Pasha , devote a spare hour to reading this article . We do not expect they will fall in love with polygamy , but we think they will learn a good deal of which it may be they are now ignorant , and especially that Turkish women-folk are by no means as ill-treated as

we imagine them to be . The article on the " First of September " is about the best in tho whole collection . Tho writer , who handles his subject both ably and discreetly , describes sport as it was in the days of our . fathers and grandfathers , and sport as it is now . The contrast is not favourable to the latter . A few sensible remarks follow as to the value of sport as a prime element in training- men to endure

fatigue , and to acquire skill in tho use of firearms , as well iu habits of perseverance , but , above all , in " promoting the union of the corpus sanum with the mens sana , and of maintaining the healthy balance of all tho elements of our nature . " One other article describing " A Human Sacrifice" is worth reading , and the serial " Carita" progresses satisfactorily .

The paper in Temple Bar , headed " Morality on a Spanish Wharf , " introduces us to the daily life of a homely , but worthy class of people , the Cadiz boatmen . The author is quite enthusiastic in his account of them . Be , says they are genial , honest folk , poor but hospitable

Magazines Of The Month.

uneducated , but with a sense of refinement about , them we should hardly look for in our English ports . He quotes several of their sayings , proverbial and other , and one or two of them we take leave to re-quote . " The good fare worse than the bad in Spain ; but it's best to be good : you are happier . " The writer gave one of them somo silver for managing the boat skilfully in a rough sea , adding , " I wish

it were gold . " To which tho answer came , * ' No matter : I receive it as such . " Again , " God says all men are brothers ; the world says all rich men aro brothers ; " and " All men are sons of God , and we ought to help one another ; but the world does nob think so . " Our only regret is that the paper is so short . The article on the " Freeing of Servia " gives a brief account of the achievements and death of

Czerny George , to whom the Servians are mainly indebted for their freedom . Just now , as illustrating the character of this people , the sketch will find , no doubt , many readers . Mr . A . C . Ewald contribates the first of a series of papers on " Ministers and Maxims , " the subject iu this instance being " Strafford and his policy of

' Thorough . '" " A Pig Hunt in the Dark" and " The Legend of the Lande of Lanvaux , " by Katharine S . Macquoid , are worth mentioning . Mr . Trollope's serial story of " The American Senator " is still in progress , bufc Mr . Wilkie Collins has concluded his highly interesting romance of " The Two Destinies . "

Baily stands high among periodicals , occupying , indeed , a position by itself , there being no other magazine that aspires to represent the wholeof the sporting world , though there are some , like Hunt ' sYachting Magazine , which watch over the interests of one particular sport . Thus in Baily there is sure to be one or more articles to suit the special tastes of individual readers . For instance , those who care for

horse-racing will find an excellent description , by "Amphion , of a training establishment , under the title of " Sheffield Lane . " Then there is a survey of " cricket" during tho past month , in which the brilliant achievements of Mr . W . G . Grace receive an ample measure of justice . The " Yachting and Rowing " summary is equally meritorious , while "Our Van" is mostly taken up with Brighton during the

race-week , reserving , however , for a final paragraph , the strong expressions of its disgust afc the shabby conduct of the Tyne men in the late match for the championship . " Our Van" driver has a full sense of the demerits of their case , and we endorse his sentiments fully . The other contributions are a further chapter in the history of " Frank Raleigh of Watercombe , " the continuation of "Recollections

of Mr . Thomas Coleman , " and some " Reminiscences of Mr . Henry Wood's Beagles , " together with a short biography of Major General Mark Wood , whose portrait embellishes the number . If the contributions are not many as regards number , they exhibit , all of them , a very high degree of merit , and fully justify a statement we have mado before that Baily is always a welcome visitor .

We have noted , among other contributions to the Leisure Hour , a brief biographical sketch by Dr . John Rimbault of Professor John Hullah , an article by Canon Rawlinson on " Early Civilisation , " and an account of "The Great Hailstorm in Oxfordshire , on 9 th August , 1843 . " This is one of the most terrible storms on record as having visited this country , the amount of damage done having been very con .

siderable . The story is told very graphically . In another part we find a sixth in the series descriptive of " The Border Lands of Islam , " Bulgaria , where so many scenes of violence have recently been enacted , boing the subject . Then there aro somo very characteristic letters of Lord Palmerston ' s . Some " American Caricatures , " relating to the Colonies before and towards the close of the War of Independence ,

are very curious , and there is a very full description of " The New General Post Office . " ' •' Queensland" forms the subject of another article , and in another is given an account of " A Trip to Java . " The " Natural History Anecdotes , " the " Antiquarian Gossip on the Months , " and " Weather Proverbs " will be found as attractive as ever . We give the following , anent tho strange old custom at Easter

of " lifting or " heaving , " quoted from vol . i . of the Book of Days . A grave clergyman " happened to be passing through a town in Lancashire , and having to stay an hour or two at an inn , was astonished by three or four lusty women rushing into his room , exclaiming they had ' como to lift him . ' ' To lift me ? ' repeated the amazed divine , ' what can you mean ? ' ' Why , your reverence , we ' ve come to lift

you cause it s Easter Tuesday . ' ' Lift me because it ' s Easter Tuesday ? I don ' t ; understand you ! Is there any such custom here ?' 'Yes , to be sure ; why , don't you know ? All us women was lifted yesterday , and us lifts the men to-day in turn ; and , in course , it's our rights and duties to lift them . ' After a little further parley the reverend traveller compromised with his fair visitors for half-a-crown , and thus escaped the dreaded compliment . "

Tho principal features in the Sunday at Home are again Dr . Stoughton ' s series of papers on " Westminster Abbey , " and a continuation of another series on " Welsh Preaching and Welsh Preachers . " Mrs . Finn contributes a third article on " Agriculture in Palestine . " We have noticed also some interesting particulars of " The Jewish New Year , or the Feast of Trumpets , " aud an equally interesting sketch of " Queen Pomare and Tahiti . "

We have received Part I . of the Countries of the World , a new serial publication by Messrs . Cassell , Petter , and Galpin . The Editor is Dr . Robert Brown , late President of the Royal Physical Society , Edinburgh , and with the memory of his able conduct of the Races of Mankind , wo have no doubt whatever thafc this new illustrated work will prove a great success . The illustrations aro of a better class than usual , while the literary matter has been collated from authentic

sources , and is well put together , in the form of a highly interesting and very readable narrative . We are fully sensible of the earnest efforts of Messrs . Cassell and Co . to place a high class literature within easy reach of all classes of readers , and we heartily congratulate them on tho auspicious commencement of this latest periodical work of theirs . We have every reason to believe that che Countries of the World will prove a highly acceptable addition to our current literature . The distinguishing features of Cassell ' s Family Magaxins are