o the orgies of the wind and rain,
The newt, the toad, the spider, and the mouse."

A little of Costar's well-known exterminator would rid Mr. Aldrich of
this rascal rodent. Perhaps, when the mouse is disposed of, the poet
will use some other word than _torso_ to describe a headless, but not
limbless body, and will relieve Agnes Vail of either her shield or her
buckler, since she can hardly need both.

We have always thought Mr. Aldrich's "Palabras Carinosas" among the most
delicious and winning that he has spoken, and nearly all of his earlier
poems please us; but on the whole it seems to us that his finest is his
latest poem, "Friar Jerome's Beautiful Book"; for it is original in
conception and expression, and noble and elevated in feeling, with all
our poet's wonted artistic grace and felicity of diction. We think it
also a visible growth from what was strong and individual in his style,
before he allowed himself to be so deeply influenced by study of one
whose flower indeed becomes a weed in the garden of another.

_The United States during the War._ By AUGUST LAUGEL. New York:
Bailliere Brothers. Paris: Germer Bailliere.

_The Civil War in America._ An Address read at the last Meeting of the
Manchester Union and Emancipation Society. By GOLDWIN SMITH. London:
Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. Manchester: A. Ireland & Co.

As a people, we are so used to policeman-like severity or snobbish
ridicule from European criticism, that we hardly know what to make of
the attentions of a Frenchman who is not an Inspector Javert, or of an
Englishman who is not a Commercial Traveller. M. Laugel eulogizes us
without the least patronage in his manner; Mr. Goldwin Smith praises us
with those reserves which enhance the value of applause. We are
ourselves accustomed to deal generously and approvingly with the facts
of our civilization, but our pride in them falls short of M. Laugel's;
and our most sanguine faith in the national future is not more cordial
than Mr. Goldwin Smith's.

The diverse methods in which these writers discuss the same aspects and
events of our history are characteristic and interesting, and the
difference in spirit is even greater than that of form,--greater than
the difference between a book, which, made from articles in the _Revue
de Deux Mondes_, recounts the political, military, and financial
occurrences of the last four years, sketches popular scenes and
characters, and deals with the wonders of our stat