-The

and fifteenth amendments, and upon the questions of the power of the States to regulate commerce, and to impair the obligation of contract.same publishers have begun a Riverside Pocket Series with Watch and Ward by Henry James Jr., which first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1871, now minutely revised and with many verbal alterations; In the Wilderness by Charles Dudley Warner; and George Parsons Lathrop's Study of Hawthorne. The thing to commend in this series is that the covers are of pasteboard instead of paper and so save one's volume that too early crop of dogs' ears that come to the latter from frequent use.

The

-Funk and Wagnalls have issued, also in pasteboard, a new edition of The Mentor, a little book "for the guidance of such men and boys as would appear to advantage in the society of persons of the better sort," already noticed in these pages. Life of Colfax* relates with considerable minuteness the biography of a very clever man, and shows how, without influential friends, or any other special advantages to start with, he mounted by his own ability to positions of very great trust in the nation. The book is not critical, being purely in the spirit of eulogy. It earnestly strives to place in the best light the questionable episode in Colfax's public career. One of the noteworthy traits of his intelligence brought out by the biographer's quotations, is his keen and accurate political prevision. After the nomination of Hayes he writes of Mr. Blaine's candidacy before the convention: "I could not but admire his dash and audacity myself. But had he been nominated, we should have had a Henry Clay campaign-fireworks

Riverside Pocket Series: Watch and Ward, by Henry James, Jr. In the Wilderness, by Charles Dudley Warner. A Study of Hawthorne, by George Parsons Lathrop. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 1886. For sale in San Francisco by Chilion Beach.

The Mentor. By Alfred Ayres. Wagnalls. 1886.

4Life of Schuyler Colfax. York: Funk & Wagnalls. 1886.

New York: Funk &

By O. 1. Hollister. New

at the commencement, explanation and defense all through, and defeat in the end," a very good forecast of what did occur eight years later. His remarks on Hayes's chances at this time, and again in 1882 on the Republican losses, show the same shrewdness and foresight. The biographer writes not only as a personal, but a political partisan, and lowers the character of the book by going out of his way to indulge in political detraction and current misrepresentations.- -Mother Bickerdyke” is a cordial little biography of the vei erable war-heroine, written by a lady of this city, and published for the benefit of its subject. A very good portrait of Mrs. Bickerdyke is prefixed. It includes an account of "her life and labors for the relief of our soldiers, sketches of battle scenes and incidents of the sanitary service."-Theodore S. Van Dyke, one of the most thoughtful of out-door writers, has added a most readable volume to the long list of Southern California descriptive books. He has re-written his letters to the New York Evening Post and other leading newspapers, and has added new chapters; so that, as the book now stands, it is complete in its way, and must long rank as an authority. Mr. Van Dyke has sensitive and truthful powers of observation and description, backed up by scientific knowledge of botany and natural history, making his work accurate as well as readable. His aim, as we understand it, is simply to describe the natural out-of-door attractions of Southern California-in the words of the title-page, "its valleys, hills, and streams, animals, birds, and fishes, gardens, farms, and climate." He has done this with such loving skill that the volume ought to be of great value to all who feel an interest in these regions.

5 Mother Bickerdyke. By Margaret B. Davis. Published for the benefit of M. A. Bickerdyke. San Fraucisco; A. T. Dewey. 1886.

6Southern California. By Theodore S. Van Dyke. New York: Ford, Howard, & Hulbert. 1886.