8. "A History of Japan during the Century of Early European Intercourse (1542-1651)," by J. Murdoch. Based on a critical study of the original documents in nine languages, this unique work describes in full detail not only civil wars, diplomatic intrigues, and the fortunes of Japan's greatest men, but also her first relations with the Portuguese, the Dutch, and other Western nations, and more especially the enthusiastic reception and subsequent persecution of the Catholic missionaries. Certain disorders of style alone mar the author's vivid picture of the most important century of Japanese history. A second volume is in preparation.
9. "The Capital of the Tycoon," by Sir Rutherford Alcock. Though published some forty years ago, and though as a narrative, it covers only the brief space of three years (1859-1862), this book is still delightful and profitable reading. In its pages we live with the fathers of the men who rule Japan to-day. True, these men may reject the application to their case of the proverb which says "like father, like son." But we foreign lookers-on, who perhaps after all see something of the game, must be permitted to hold a different opinion, and to believe that even in cases so exceptional as Japan's, the political and social questions of a country can only then be fairly comprehended when its past is constantly borne in mind. Sir Rutherford's book combines the light touch of the skilled diplomat and man of the world with the careful research of the genuine student.
10. "Japan and China," by Capt. F. Brinkley. This work in twelve handsome volumes, besides covering a multitude of other subjects, treats authoritatively of art—more especially keramic art, to which an entire volume is devoted—and of the political history of the last fifty years. The large sections describing the manners and customs of the Japanese Court and people at various periods are also very interesting. But the seeker after information on Japan could dispense with the four volumes on China, which come as a sort of appendix to the eight volumes in which Japan, though a slenderer subject, is so much more fully dealt with.
