ntained in Mr. Mahaffy's clever little
book, and many of them will, no doubt, commend themselves to our readers.
The maxim, 'If you find the company dull, blame yourself,' seems to us
somewhat optimistic, and we have no sympathy at all with the professional
storyteller who is really a great bore at a dinner-table; but Mr. Mahaffy
is quite right in insisting that no bright social intercourse is possible
without equality, and it is no objection to his book to say that it will
not teach people how to talk cleverly. It is not logic that makes men
reasonable, nor the science of ethics that makes men good, but it is
always useful to analyse, to formularize and to investigate. The only
thing to be regretted in the volume is the arid and jejune character of
the style. If Mr. Mahaffy would only write as he talks, his book would
be much pleasanter reading.

_The Principles of the Art of Conversation_: _A Social Essay_. By J. P.
Mahaffy. (Macmillan and Co.)

EARLY CHRISTIAN ART IN IRELAND
(_Pall Mall Gazette_, December 17, 1887.)

The want of a good series of popular handbooks on Irish art has long been
felt, the works of Sir William Wilde, Petrie and others being somewhat
too elaborate for the ordinary student; so we are glad to notice the
appearance, under the auspicesof the Committee of Council on Education,
of Miss Margaret Stokes's useful little volume on the early Christian art
of her country. There is, of course, nothing particularly original in
Miss Stokes's book, nor can she be said to be a very attractive or
pleasing writer, but it is unfair to look for originality in primers, and
the charm of the illustrations fully atones for the somewhat heavy and
pedantic character of the style.

This early Christian art of Ireland is full of interest to the artist,
the archaeologist and the historian. In its rudest forms, such as the
little iron hand-bell, the plain stone chalice and the rough wooden
staff, it brings us back to the simplicity of the primitive Christian
Church, while to the period of its highest development we owe the great
masterpieces of Celtic metal-work. The stone chalice is now replaced by
the chalice of silver and gold; the iron bell has its jewel-studded
shrine, and the rough staff its gorgeous casing; rich caskets and
splendid bindings preserve the holy books of the Saints and, instead of
the rudely carved symbol of the early missionaries, we have such
beautiful works of art as the process