8o2 Revieivs of Books March, 1S69, exposed the hoax and disclosed the author of it in the His- torical Magazine. Equal faith is reposed in the mythical equestrian statue, erected on the summit of Corvo in the Madeira Islands, and the author inquires "Was the statue erected as a guide to point out to other northern sea-rovers and to Columbus the route to follow to the centre of the New World?" (II. 323). There are some strange blunders in New England geography, such as "Kent county, Massachusetts," and "the city of Rutland, Massa- chusetts" (II. 313), and we are sceptical about "honey-dew," such as Leif gathered in abundance, being yet distilled in the island of Nan- tucket (II. 218); and that in the Black Death, A. D. 1347, "in the city of London only fourteen persons survived" (II. 414). We will conclude with one other erroneous statement: " Claudian, a poet, tells, in the year 390, that the Emperor Theodosius had fright- ened the far distant isle (Thule) with the sound of his Getish wars " (II. 520). The truth is that Theodosius, the great general (father of the emperor of the same name), A. D. 370, repelled the attacks of the Picts and the Scots upon Britain, and it is this to which Claudian refers. In view of the flood of light our author has shed upon the ancient history of this continent, we look forward with much interest to his forth- coming work, in which he intends to " prove that Alexander VI. was too great and disinterested a character to be thrown among his Italian officials and not become aspersed by their reviving paganism " (II. 464, note). H. W. H. Tlic Transit of Civilization from England to America in the Scz'cn- teentli Century. By Edward Egglestox, Author of Tlic Be- ginners of a Nation. (New York : D. Appleton and Company. 1901. Pp. X, 344.) The full title of Dr. Eggleston's book is hardly lucid; the abridged form of it which appears on the cover — " The Transit of Civilization "— is obscure ; and only the reverse of the leaf which precedes the title-page informs us that the work forms part of his " History of Life in the United States." Carping though critical mention of such details ma)- seem, these details are the first which come to mind when one considers the total effect of the book in question. The indefiniteness of the titles proves unfortunately characteristic of the chapters which they name. As a whole, for all their interesting passages, these are confused, bewildering and sometimes misleading. Yet Dr. Eggleston's subject is not only interesting but important. His purpose was to set forth the precise state of European civilization at the time v/hen our country was finally settled, to explain the mental and moral condition of the generation which implanted itself in American soil, and in some degree to point out how the pristine ideas and ideals, convictions and errors, of our national ancestry have affected our national
