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 IC A T IO N S .

I

No. 103.]

JU N E 15, 1894.

[ P r i c e O n e P e n n y .

N E W P U B L IC A T IO N S .

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T he religious and heterodox world is being much agitated by Professor Drummond’s Lowell Lectures on “ The Ascent of Man ” (7s. 6d.). It is generally conceded that the work is a literary masterpiece, and there is little doubt that it will provoke animated discussion among the leading luminaries in the intellectual world. Professor Drummond’s object is to “ supply at least the accents ” for a scheme in which the doctrine of Evolution—which, according to him, has hitherto been seen out of focus—may be brought into proper relations and proportions. He traces the early history of the individual up to the point of the formation of the family.

Professor Bain, who is preparing for publication the philosophical remains of the late Professor George Croom Robertson, formerly editor of Mind., will contribute a memoir of the author; but probably the most interesting feature of the book will be the story of Professor Robertson’s connection with John Stuart Mill and the Woman’s Suffrage movement, as told in letters written by Mill to the Professor.

Messrs. Longman will issue in the autumn an abridged edition of Mr. Edward Clodd’s “ Story of Creation,” under the title of “ A Primer of Evolution.”

“ T he Agnostic, and Other Poems ” (6s.), by G. Anderson, is a new volume from the pen of a new writer.

D r . H enry S mith, the author of “ The Religion of the Brain,” has issued, through Mr. Elliot Stock, a brochure setting forth “ The Practical Value of Religious Belief."

T he second volume of Messrs. Williams and Norgatc’s Theological Translation series will be vol. i. of Professor Harnack’s large work on “ The History of Dogma”—not to be confounded, by the way, with a smaller work by the Berlin Professor, of which an American translation appeared some time back. The translation of the present volume has been made under the supervision of Professor A. B. Bruce, of the F. C. College, Glasgow, and the translator has had the benefit of the advance sheets of the third German edition, which has enabled him to embody in this translation Professor Harnack’s latest conclusions, which differ in a marked degree from those expressed in former editions. Professor Harnack has written a new preface specially for this edition.

Mr. S amuel P. Putnam’s “ Four Hundred Years of Freethought’’ (21s.), which is to be a history of the heterodox movement for the time of Columbus and Bruno to that of Spencer and Darwin, is announced for immediate publication.

Mr. C harles Watts has written a pamphlet on “ Christianity and Civilisation ’’ (3d ), the object of which is to show why the popular orthodox faith is still professed.

OUR L I B R A R Y S H E L Y E S .

Among Rationalists and in Ethical circles few great teachers, if any, are more frequently quoted than the Pagan philosopher who, in 16 1 c.E. (Christian Era), succeeded to the throne of the Roman Empire. I f any reader may have hitherto thought less than he should of the noble Stoic, we beg him to con, without delay, the “ Meditations of

MARCUS A U R E L IU S ”

(translated from the Greek by Jeremy Collier ; edited by Alice Zimmern; Walter Scott’s “ Camelot Series;” 18 87 ; 208 pp. ; is.). Of course, the most reliable version of Aurelius is that of Long, which is more modern than Collier’s. Collier’s, however, is more bright and readable than Long’s translation, and more adapted fora pocket companion. Miss Zimmern’s introduction affords a concise view of Stoical doctrine in general, and the salient features of Aurelius’s philosophy in particular. She asks the question, “ Did the Stoics believe in a life after death ?’’ and answers, “ It is not easy to decide. They did not, like the Epicureans, fiercely deny it, maintaining that annihilation alone could remove the terrors of death. Undoubtedly, the individual soul must at last be absorbed into the universal soul; but whether this happened at once, or not until the next conflagration [of the cosmos], was a point on which authorities were not agreed. In any case, the soul must return to the Deity whence it sprang.” In any case, also, speculation on such problems was not man’s highest duty. “ Virtue alone is admirable; virtue alone is self-sufficient; the good man needs no help from circumstances, neither sickness nor adversity can harm him ; he is a king, a god among men.”

Wonderful are the golden links which bind the centuries and connect the sympathies of men in palace and cot, in Roman camp and latter-day European cities. Aurelius speaks to generous souls with more directness and familiarity in this our day than many a learned and pretentious contemporary. To the tired clerk, the over-worked artizan, and the much-troubled mother alike the great Stoic has a re-assuring and consoling message to deliver. “ Do not,” runs his gentle suasion, “ take your whole life into your head at a time, nor burden yourself with the weight of the future, nor form an image of all probable misfortunes. ....... You arc to remember that neither what is past nor what is to come need afflict you, for you have to deal only with the present. Now, this is strangely lessened if you take it singly and by itself.” There is an almost indefinable impressiveness in Aurelius’s manner. As a philosopher, an apostle, a prophet, he speaks; yet with harmonious tones of friendship and fraternity and profound fellow-feeling. He admonishes, at times, with ineffable sternness; yet the tendcrest soul will not shrink. Dignified himself, he awakens a responsive sentiment of dignity in his listeners. Unlike Jesus, he mounts no preternatural pedestal. Blood of our blood, and bone of our bone, he appeals to us as a citizen of the earth-city, greater than his brethren by reason of moral genius, equal to them in liability to ills and temptations. The precepts he frames are addressed to himself as