'The  Pnritan  in  Holland,  England,
^  and  America,  by  Douglas  Camp-
bell. (1892.)  This  historical  survey  of
Puritanism  in  its  ethical,  social,  and
political  aspects  is  strikingly  original,
since  it  seeks  to  demonstrate,  with  much
strength  and  clearness,  that  the  debt  of
the  American  nation  for  its  most  radical
customs  and  institutions  is  not  to  the
English  at  all,  but  to  the  Dutch.  It  en-
deavors to  prove  that  the  very  essence
of  Puritanism  came  originally  from  Hol-
land, leavened  the  English  nation,  and
through  the  English  nation,  the  embry-
onic American  nation.  Some  of  the
most  common  of  American  institutions,
— « common  lands  and  common  schools,
the  written  ballot,  municipalities,  reli-
gious tolerance,  a  federal  union  of  States,
the  play  of  national  and  local  govern-
ment, the  supremacy  of  the  judiciary, » —
all  these  came  directly  from  Holland.
Mr.  Campbell's  work  is  most  valuable
as  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  Amer-
ican history,  or  in  itself  considered  as  a


scholarly  though  not  always  impartial
monograph.
li/ladonna*8  Child,  by  Alfred  Austin.
A'l  This  romantic  poem,  which  its  au-
thor, the  poet-laureate,  calls  the  <<  first-
bom  of  his  serious  Muse.^  was  first
published  in  1872.  The  scene  is  laid  at
Spiaggiascura,  on  the  Riviera ;  and  Olym-
pia,  the  heroine,  <<a  daughter  of  the  sun-
light and  the  shrine,^  is  sacristan  of  a
little  seaside  chapel:  —

'Sacred    to    prayer,    but    quite   unknown   to
fame,
Maria  Stella  Maria  Is  Its  name.    .    ..
