Reviews.

Shognn . Formerly a priest or a retainer in armour knelt all day on the steps . Now nobody seems to kneel or to care much for Shin or Buddhism . Formerly pilgrims were only admitted to the outer gate , and that rarely . Now I wandered in and out , and did just as I pleased , on paying the few priests left a small fee of sixpence or a shilling . But the place is ruined . The Government ordered all Buddhist

ternpies to bo turned into Shinto , which is the old Japanese religion , and consists chiefly in adoring ancestors . Tho enraged Buddhist priests burned tho best temple on the day of the change . From Yedo an expedition is mado to Nikko , distant about a hundred miles . A halt is made at Kashlcabe for refreshments , and a night ' s rest , and here Mr Campbell has to eatwith chop-sticks , which puzzled him

also . " At first I suffered the torments of Tantalus ; but practice has made me as dexterous as a crane , and I ended by feeding like a Japanese gentleman , without soiling tho mats . " After a good hot bath , tho journey is continued , and Nikko is reached late on the third day . Here he sees the tomb and shrine of tho first Shognn . These are described as being " the finest buildings of their kind in Japan , and the

most wonderful work I ever saw anywhere . Ono railing has sixty panels carved in alto-relievo , representing pheasants , peacocks , coots , cranes , trees , leaves , flowers , rocks , & c .: each is about four feet by two , all are coloured , aud each is extraordinary . Single fea . thers in the pheasant ' s tails stand out six or eight inches in front of flowers two or threo inches deep . By measure , tho carvings are

from eleven to fifteen inches deep of hiako wood . The wholo gate and soreen is a mass of black lacquer and gilt copper , with green and vermilion , all glittering in a bright sun in a frame of dark green pines of vast sire , which rise on tho hills to tho tomb which is on the top . Lions , elephants , apes , flowers , diaper-work on gold ground , coppor tiles , gold-ridge poles , making a confusion of

harmonious colour which beats description or copying . On eaoh side of the ' month-gate , ' so called because it takes a month to admire it , are gilded lions , one with a mane and tail of emerald green , the other smalt blue . Outsido sit two figures with bows and arrows guarding tho gate . Within is the shrine , all lacquer and colours and carved wood , hung with gold brocade and bamboo screens , with

golden bronze lilies and vases , six to eight feet high , with bronze cranes as big as the lilies , and screens of precious wood , carved and painted and finished like a fine box . " After a short stay , the party returned to Yedo , and Mr . Campbell sets off to Yokohama , in time for a grand dinner in celebration of St . Andrew's Day ( 30 th November ) . A series of visits follow , including

a day or two's sport with a Prince Karuda , but this is tho reverse of lively . Mr . Campbell picks up all kinds of curios wherever he can lay his hands upon any which he deems worth buying , and a little later ho " assists " at taking the necessary observations of tho " Transit of Venus , " of which we have a long and highly interesting narrative . Subsequently he obtains , by tho aid of the British Minister ,

passports for himself and servant to visit Kioto by either of two roads . A halt for the night is made at a place called Konossu , and wo have a tribute to Japanese cleanliness generally . " Once for all , " writes the author , " nobody suffered from any of the numerous pests that make foreign travel detestable elsewhere . House , people , garments , and food were clean and neat , and natty as a band-box full of dolls

newly painted , with a toy dinner cooked for fairies to cat . " Of the value of » ce as an article of food we havo the following testimony , a prnpos of meeting some rice-farmers by the way . " Rice seems to make strong hardy men . Oil or fat is supposed to be needed to keep the fire burning in human engines exposed to cold . These men eat rice aud beans , a vory littlo dried fish , and sea-weed . Yet here they

are scarcely clad , in a biting mountain wind , doing very hard work , and in grand condition . An English traveller came clown from Yedo iu great cold , and lived on rice and brown sugar for some weeks . He came in looking brown , hardy , and strong , and in excellent health . I tried the prescription , and it suited me . We met trains of coolies coming from tho hills to tho town , each man carrying his

merchandise ou the springy polo of tho country . Tho muscles on the shoulders were marvellous , and tho men models of strength done up in small parcels . The weights carried were as wonderful as the pace , which was good five miles an hour , and a kind of trot . " On the way , a countryman is seen working with a foot-plough , " the very same implement which is used in tho Western Isles of Scotland by tho '

Gaidheal thero ; and so far as I know , it is used nowhere else . Here is a noto of tho Japanese farmer , using tho very same action as a Skyeman , and the very same agricultural contrivance , only better mado . This is the ' cascrom , ' or bent shank of the West in the far East , a strange bond of union between the extremities of tho old world . " However , we must not dwell longer by the way . The shrines he visits , tho

scenery , the people , the notes about the Dragon Myth , these we must leavo the reader to study . Nor have we space to devote to the account of the various articles he sees iu use , or Japaneso art , Japanese inventive powers , Japanese furniture , < tc , & c . Theso , and well-nigh all the most curious reader could wish to know is described more or less fully . At length Kioto was reached , and shortly after Mr .

Campbell leaves Japan , and in a short timo finds himself at Shanghai . But Chinese cities aro not to his taste , and he soon is on the way to Singapore , and then later we meet him at Java . Subsequently he visits the island of Ceylon , and thence returns home , reaching London in Juno 1875 , just a year from the time of his departure . As we havo devoted so much spaco to the earlier portions of his journey , it

must suffico if wo remark of the later that the sketches we have set before us of the people and their ways , of the country and the scenery are equally vivid , though as we have said already , the part of the work which contains the author ' s Japanese experiences is b y far the most interesting . To the geologist the very elaborate paper on " The Period of Polar Glaeiation " will prove a great attraction . The note "

and observations havo been touched and re-touched again and again , and cannot do otherwise than throw a considerable amount of light on a highly interesting subject . The illustrations are very numerous , taken roughly by Mr . Campbell himself , and on that account , porhaps , even more worthy of note thau the most highly finished sketches or even photographs . In fino , My Circular Notes will prove a never .

Reviews.

ending source of pleasure to the reader , and had the style in which they are written been more free from slang terms and expressions , there would not have been the shadow of a shade of any shortcoming to lay to the author ' s charge .

Magazines Of The Month.

MAGAZINES OF THE MONTH .

THAT interesting serial , " The Dilemma , " which has so long adorned the pages of Blackwood is at length concluded . TVIB closing scenes aro painful in tho extreme . The lady , who , in the early days of the story , was the admiration of Mnstaphabad , and her two children are rescued from an appalling fate , by one who had tho strongest right

to protect and aid her , but who had been mourned as dead for several years . She discovers by whom she is rescued ; her senses leave her , and she attempts self-destruction . Yorko barely succeeds in recovering her from tho river into which she had thrown herself , only to learn , a few moments later , that she is dead . Falkland expires .

after saving his wife and her children . Yorke alones achieves happw ness , for he is engaged , though not formally , to marry ono of the Peevor family . In no part of the story is ' the reader ' s interest so strongly assured as in the closing scenes , where events follow thick and fast ono upon tho other . "The Dilemma" is well written

throughout , but especially towards the end . Wo hope to make ao . quaintanco with it again in connected form , when , we imagine , the merits of the work will be still more conspicuous . Criticism is the most prominent feature in the present number , three out of six articles being devoted to reviews of recent literature . A passing word , also , is due to the story of " 1895 . "

Belgravia opens , as usual , with a further instalment of the Editor ' s serial story , " Joshua Haggard's Daughter , " and , as usual , thus forms one of the principal attractions of the number . Of the other fifteen items there is hardly ono which does not display some merit . Mr . Compton Reade writes to the purpose on tho subject of " Art

Education . Dr . Davies contributes a short yet pretty poem on " Our Secret . " Mr . George Kirby ' s illustration , which is in admirable keeping with the words , " The Dublin Season of 1876 , " is noticed afc considerable length by Mr . Nugent Robinson . To Henry Kingsley we are indebted for a well-devised story , " Our Suspicious neigh .

bours , " and to Mr . Frederick Talbot for the sketch of " Our Ill-con . ducted Conductor . We feel grateful to Mr . Fitzgerald for concluding thus early , his extremely unpleasant tale " 'Twixt Green and Red , " this being the single contribution to which we feel compelled to take exception . The rest of tho contents call for no particular remark .

Mr . Farjeon ' s " The Duchess of Rosemary Lane " stands first on the programme of Tinsleys ' . The interest in this tale grows with its growth , and we feel assured it will very nearly approach , if it does not surpass , the former works of the justly popular author . Mr . Grant ' s " Did she love him ? " progresses likewise most satisfactorily .

Youug Seymour mends rapidly after his terrible accident , all tho more so that ho has gained something more than the sympathy of Mabel Brooke . Milly Allingham , however , her bosom friend , carries her assumed indifference to Stanley just a little too far , and the latter hastily quits the mansion of the hospitable Mr . Brook . " Maggie "

is by no means badly written thus far , and we doubt not will develope into something interesting as the tale proceeds . " The Social Status Quo" is infinitely more light and lively than it generally is . Wo have also been introduced to a new story " A Deep Laid Plot . "

The "Thespian Cartes continue . When complete they will form a compact sketch of the theatrical world . There are other contributions besides those wo have enumerated above , and of these we fancy most the short poems scattered throughout the number . We quote one of them—No . X . of " Dreams of a German Jew . "

* My carriage rolls so slowly Through the merry forest green , Through magical bloomy valleys , That flower in the sun ' s bright sheen .

I sifc there , musing and dreaming , And think of my love so fair , Thero shadowy forms salute me , Nodding towards mo there . Thoy skip and they make grimaces , So mocking and yet so shy : And whirl like mists together ,

And titter , and all whisk by . In ioudou Society the further chapters of " This Son of Vulcan " aro intousely interesting . The scene in which the tables are turned ou CardiJf Jack is admirably described . "Michael Strogof , or the Russian Courier , " is another story that would grace the pages of any magazine , but wo do not anticipate great things , for " He would be a

Soldier ! " Verisopht—a name that readers uf " Nicholas Nickleby " are familiar with—has , so far at least , not a single feature to recommend him . The scene in the railway carriage with the raspberry puffs is too grotesque for the most infatuated lover of the ridiculous . The "Noteson Popular Dramatists " continue , and are as interesting as ever .

\\ e have called attention again and again to the serials in Gassell ' s Family Magazine , and can hardly speak too highly of their merits . ; '; it the features on which we lay the greatest stress are the sound practical papers which occur in every number . Such , in the part before us , are " How to qualify for the Musical Profession , " " How to get rid of a Winter Cough , " " Some practical hints on the

acquirement of Languages . " In each of these the reader will find mnch valuable information . Then the papers in which aro described " The Doings of Dustmen , " and " Small Manufacturers , " are interesting , while Mr . W . A . Gibbs offers a tuneful yet earnest " Plea for the Birds , " which we trust Fashion will see its way to listen to . Sir W . King Hall contributes a short' * Story of Sea Service , " " Man Oyer .