THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES FOR MAY, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5112, 11 August 1877, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE ENGLISH MAGAZINES FOR MAY, 1877.

(From Public Opinion, May 12.) MacmUlan contains an attractive article on "Old Greek Athletics," which not only studious men, but " those who run may read " pleasurably. The general conclusion to which the carefully collected details of the Olympic games leads the writer is " that witli all the pomp expended on Greek athletic meetings, despite the exaggerated fame attained by victors, and the solid rewards, both of money and privileges, accorded them by their grateful country, the results attained physically seem to have Deen inferior to those 'of English athletes." But while admitting its influence on sculptors and poets, he perhaps fails .to .recognise the beneacial effect which it may have had on the mental development of the, Grecian: youth. A judicious essay on Harriet .Mar-, tineau will content those who, from their sex,. cannot appreciate the disquisition on gym-, nasties. "Hungary and Croatia"-aro. .near enough to the seat of war to make the infor- j mation furnished by Lord Edmbnd. JFiter: maurico about those countries timely. Dean Stanley's encouraging address on ". The,'Hopes of Theology," to the studentsipf St. Andrew's,.'

the continuation of Mrs. Oliphant's story, " Young Musgrave," and a moving description of an hospital for incurable children, complete the number.

Tiniiley's. —The solid articles this month are one on " Manias," as a writer somewhat too severely designates those harmless crazes for such matters of temporary enthusiasm as rinks, china, spiritualism, aesthetics; the other is on " The Praise of Folly," a not sufficiently wellknown work by Erasmus. Fiction is supplied by " Two Kuaves and a Queen," and several other stories.

Good Words. —The essay signed Cecelia Lushington, " The Influence of Keligion on the World," would vex the souls of the intellectual feasters at Sir James Stephen's Symposium; first, by stating the incontrovertible fact that some kind of religion has almost always universally prevailed; and secondly, by drawing more controvertible inferences therefrom. " Doris Barugh," in whom we were much interested, is now married, we are sorry to Bay. It would be nearly disloyal to omit an allusion to a poetic " Legend of Loch IXrsk." Mr. Anthony Trollope continues to explain " Why Frau Frohmann Raised her Prices" very natu : rally, and Mr. Sandwith gives his usual number :of short " Sunday Evening Readings," which are fine, short sermons. King's College Magazine is a welcome addition to the other monthlies. Judging from the contents of the opening number, the conductors, who are members of the College, are to be congratulated- upon the generally excellent character of their new publication. Besides literary articles of general interest, poetry, &c, the magazine intends to supply a history of the variaus societies in each department of the college, and will include examination lists, and deal generally with all subjects of special interest to the students,, both past and present. There are in the present number papers on "Athletics," on the " History of Riddle 3," " Workshops," and " Fluorescence," in addition to College memoranda, and some useful correspondence. The Church Quarterly Review opens with a critical and exhaustive paper on Pantheism, which is traced in a series of historical developments from the "Vedas to Spinoza. The connection of the early heresies and of mediaßval scholasticism with principles of unbelief, whose legitimate tendency is towards Pantheism, is clearly and very conclusively shown by the writer, who isevidently astrongthinkeranda perfect master of this difficult and complicated subject. A scholarly paper is presented to us in the form of a critique on Justin Martyr's Epistle to Diognetus, and the oration to the Gentiles, grounded on Dr. Westcott's "General Survey of the History of the Canon." "The Church in India" is-an eminently satisfactory paper, full as it is of facts and statistics bearing on Church progress in our distant dominions. The papers on " Mind and Body," " The First Napoleon," " Charles Kingsley," and "The World of Fiction" are all able, and of various degrees of interest to the general reader.