urpose, he has not fallen below the highest standard
that has been erected by previous writers.

Mr. Bradshaw, in his capacity of idealist, has not only created a new
world, but has decorated it with the skill and conscientiousness of
the realist, and has achieved a work of art which may rightfully be
termed great. Jules Verne, in composing a similar story, would stop
short with a description of mere physical adventure, but in the
present work Mr. Bradshaw goes beyond the physical, and has created in
conjunction therewith an interior world of the soul, illuminated with
the still more dazzling sun of ideal love in all its passion and
beauty. The story is refreshingly independent both in conception and
method, and the insinuation, "_Beati qui ante nos nostra dixerunt_,"
cannot be quoted against him. He has imagined and worked out the whole
thing for himself, and he merits the full credit that belongs to a
discoverer.

"The Goddess of Atvatabar" is full of marvellous adventures on land
and sea and in the aerial regions as well. It is not my purpose at
present to enumerate the surprising array of novel conceptions that
will charm the reader. The author, by the condition of his
undertaking, has given _carte blanche_ to his imagination. He has
created a complete society, with a complete environment suited to it.
The broadest generalization, no less than the minutest particulars,
have received careful attention, and the story is based upon a
profound understanding of the essential qualities of human nature, and
is calculated to attain deserved celebrity. Among the subjects dear to
the idealist's heart, perhaps none finds greater favor than that which
involves the conception of a new social and political order, and our
author has elaborated this subject on fresh lines of thought, making
his material world enclose a realm of spiritual tenderness, even as
the body is the continent and sensible manifestation of the soul.

The forces, arts, and aspirations of the human soul are wrought into a
symmetrical fabric, exhibiting its ideal tendencies. The evident
purpose of the writer is to stimulate the mind, by presenting to its
contemplation things that are marvellous, noble, and magnificent. He
has not hesitated to portray his own emotions as expressed by the
characters in the book, and is evidently in hearty sympathy with
everything that will produce elevation of the intellectual and
emotional ideals.

The style in which the sto