"MERRY CHRISTMAS."-We wish all the readers of THE UNITED SERVICE a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

WE call attention to the prospectus of THE UNITED SERVICE for 1886, which will be found in the advertising pages of the magazine. We are sure our readers will be glad to know our circulation has doubled during the past year.

BOOK REVIEWS.

ZOROASTER. By F. MARION CRAWFORD. London and New York: Macmillan & Co.

In "Zoroaster" Mr. Crawford has gone back into the Oriental scenes in which he began his career and won his first success as a novelist. "Mr. Isaacs" excited great attention among novel-readers by the newness of the idea of bringing together, on the soil of India, a representative of Eastern faith, wisdom, mysticism, and even magic and the fresh blooming English girl of to-day. It was something of the surprise which Cooper prepared for our grandfathers, when he showed what possibilities of romantic interest might be evolved from the collision of an active and aggressive civilization with the aboriginal dwellers of the forest. To the interest of strongly contrasted characters and associations there was added in "Mr. Isaacs" a great charm of incident and description and that precision and certainty of touch which comes from a full knowledge of the land selected as the scene of the story.

In "Zoroaster" Mr. Crawford has not only gone back to the East, but has, of course, gone back to a distant antiquity; in other words, he has essayed an historical novel. An attempt at an historical novel is a far different thing from a success. The qualities which are necessary to produce a successful historical novel are very much those which are necessary to produce a successful history. There must be not only the same fullness of information as to facts, characters, habits, customs, manners, scenery, but the power of transferring oneself from the present to the past, of, as it were, breathing an atmosphere which existed long ago; and there must be the vivifying imagination which gives reality to men and scenes which have passed away, and of constructing scenes and characters which shall harmonize with the times in which they are placed. Scott will at once come to mind as an illustration in an eminent degree of all this, and "Romola" as an admirable example of the same thing in our later literature, a novel which George Eliot says she began as a young woman and ended as an old woman. And these works are justly regarded as requiring great genius as well as the works which are entirely creative, while the paths of literature are strewn with historical novels produced under the illusory idea of ease of achievement, which are as dead as Egyptian mummies.

In "Zoroaster" Mr. Crawford seems to us to have written a noble historical romance. It is admirable not merely in avoidance of anachronisms, and in general consistency and probability, but in its elevation, its stateliness and dignity, and in what may be summed up as the prime requisite of a history or an historical novel,— interestingness. Zoroaster is a personage who presents great attractions. He is admittedly one of the world's great teachers. In the lofty purity of his character and doctrine; in his influence upon his followers, as the founder of those Magians who studied the heavens and the earth, and who penetrated so deeply into the secrets of nature as to excite the wonder of all other men, there is much which sharpens curiosity and allures the imagination. But there are few, if any, trustworthy facts as to his life. Indeed, some scholars have questioned his having lived at all. By some authorities he is placed as far back as 1500 B.C.; others think he

lived about 800 B.C.; while others still, following the suggestions of the Zendavesta, assign him to about 500 B.C., and make him contemporary with Dareius Hystaspis. This very absence of certainty as to his life makes him in some respects more available for romantic treatment. Mr. Crawford follows Prideaux and others who assign to Zoroaster the latest of the dates which we have mentioned, and attempt to show that much of his doctrine was derived from Daniel, the prophet of the Hebrews. This has enabled the author to group several historical personages with striking effect, and appear in scenes of great dramatic vividness and reality. The main characters are few, and the action is not dissipated among too many persons and places. Zoroaster, Daniel, Dareius, Nehushta, a Jewish princess, and Atossa, wife of Dareius, are the dramatis persone of the story. The story opens at Babylon with a magnificent description of Belshazzar's feast, and in this description Daniel and Zoroaster are introduced. Daniel is strikingly portrayed, the sage, the prophet, noble in person, venerable with years, awful with the indwelling of the divine presence; and Zoroaster, a boy of fourteen summers, radiant with youth, and hope and beauty, and wise beyond his years through the gifts of nature and the instructions of the great Hebrew. After the destruction of Babylon he dwells in Ecbatana, and here we are made acquainted with Nehushta, who has grown up since that event, under the care of Daniel and in the companionship of Zoroaster. The love of Zoroaster and Nehushta is pictured with extreme beauty amid an atmosphere filled with an Oriental richness. Upon this scene of idyllic repose and loveliness breaks the news of the successful revolt of Dareius and his elevation to the throne of the Medes and Persians, and the summons comes for Zoroaster and Nehushta to appear at the royal palace at Shushan. The death of Daniel follows, and the departure of the young lovers for the presence of the king, where we find Dareius and Atossa. Of course Zoroaster and Nehushta at once attract the attention and admiration of the king, he for his manliness, independence, and courage, she by her extreme grace and beauty. Atossa becomes jealous of Nehushta and plots against her, and the remainder of the story is largely made up of the plots and counterplots of the two women until Nehushta is detached from Zoroaster, Zoroaster is driven forth from the palace into solitude and grief, and Nehushta is made the wife of Dareius. Later on Zoroaster is summoned from his seclusion and becomes the chosen friend and chief counselor of Dareius. At the close of the book the action is transferred to Persepolis, where Atossa plots an attack on the palace in the absence of Dareius and his troops, in which attack Zoroaster and Nehushta perish together.

The character of Dareius is one of remarkable strength, truth, honor, and unselfishness, and secures the interest of the reader from the outset. Zoroaster in his youth and strength, his faithfulness and his purity, panoplied for war and radiant with military glory, is a brilliant portraiture, and Zoroaster after the terrible destruction of his love, when in solitude and silence he has conquered himself, and by philosophical and spiritual meditation has cleared himself of all earthly desires and passions, his soul walking among the stars, he has become the lofty teacher and prophet, is no less noble and impressive.

Both are

Nehushta and Atossa are strongly contrasted with each other. transcendently beautiful, the one dark and the other fair; the one Hebrew, the other Persian. Nehushta, with a certain share of womanly weakness and vanities, is still interesting and charming, and capable of a pure and innocent love; Atossa is hard, cruel, deadly, and of a fiendish ingenuity of wickedness, but with all her murderous malice, smooth, smiling, courteous, sliding silently and stealthily towards her victims until she enfolds them in the coils of her fatal constriction.

The attack upon the palace at the close of the book is described with thrilling power, and ends with a sort of destruction like that of the Nibelungen-Lied, lighted up with the final devotion of Nehushta to Zoroaster.

Mr. Crawford, in the dedication of this work to his wife, calls it a drama; and upon arriving at the end, the dramatic character of the story strongly im

presses the reader,—a drama which unfolds itself through a succession of impressive acts, and moves to its final catastrophe with something of the awful inevitableness of a Greek tragedy.

We naturally expect the punishment of such a character as that of Atossa to be brought about within the limits of the story in strict conformity with tragic consistency, the reader, at any rate, may not remember the awful fate which is said to have befallen her.

There is undoubtedly a drawback in a story like this where an important person like Nehushta becomes, through whatever mistakes and machinations, a wife among other wives. Our monogamic ideas inevitably lead to a loss of interest in such circumstances. Mr. Crawford has remedied this difficulty as far as possible by drawing our attention, after the marriage of the Jewish maiden, more strongly to the intellectual and spiritual development of Zoroaster, who, after all, is kept in front as the main character of the book.

The story is full of beautiful descriptions of Oriental life, and for the most part palatial at that; the diction is rich and the style stately and rhythmical. We are certain that Mr. Crawford has written a noble historical romance.

W. C. MACY.

THE AMERICA'S CUP. HOW IT WAS WON BY THE YACHT "AMERICA" IN 1851 AND HAS BEEN SINCE DEFENDED. By CAPTAIN ROLAND F. COFFIN. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

A CANTERBURY PILGRIMAGE. and ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL.

Ridden, Written, and Illustrated by JOSEPH
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

LAWN TENNIS AS A GAME OF SKILL, WITH LATEST REVISED LAWS AS PLAYED BY THE BEST CLUBS. By LIEUTENANT S. C. F. PEILE. Edited by RICHARD D. SEARS. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.

The development of athletic and out-of-door sports is showing itself in literature, and we have no doubt that the literary record of the achievements thus far attained will react favorably upon athletics themselves. The Americans are proverbially given to carrying almost everything to extremes, but in spite of extravagances in athletic sports, there can hardly be any doubt that there will be a vast gain, physically, mentally, and morally, to the coming generations of Americans through this new interest in open-air exercises and contests. It is much to secure respect for the human body, which, from misinterpretation of the doctrines of Plato and St. Paul as to the physical life, carried down through monkish penances and asceticism into our modern Christianity, has been too much neglected and dishonored as a weak and perishable thing which, at best, must soon sink into the grave and become food for worms. A great reform was begun when Charles Kingsley commenced preaching a "muscular Christianity," and now the fruit is appearing on every side, and the "gospel of the body" is an established thing. We welcome these books, which are the outcome of this new spirit which is modifying our hurried American life, and taking us from the despotism of business and leading us forth into the open air, and making us acquainted with mountain, field, and

ocean.

"The America's Cup' is an exceedingly neat volume of about one hundred and fifty pages, and gives an account of the famous race in 1851, when the "America" took the cup from the English (not the Queen's Cup, as it is usually called, but the cup offered by the Royal Yacht Club), and the successive efforts from that time to this to wrest the prize from the Americans. As a frontispiece a reproduction is given of the famous picture in Punch, brought out at the time of the "America's" victory in 1851, wherein the relative merits of the English and the American yachts are so funnily set forth, and pictures of all the most famous vessels which have taken part in the contests for the cup since that time, are scattered through the book. We wish the first chapter, or rather that part which treats of the actual race

of the "America" with the English yachts around the Isle of Wight, could have been more extended. We cannot forbear quoting the following passage from this chapter:

"The 'America' ran ahead so fast that when she returned to the starting-point, Cowes Castle, the following memorable colloquy is said to have taken place between the Queen and one of her officers:

"Her Majesty.—'Say, Signal-Master, are the yachts in sight?' "Yes, may it please your Majesty.'

"Which is first?'

"The America.'

"Which is second?'

Ah, your Majesty, there is no second.'"

Three chapters are given to Mr. James Ashbury's efforts to secure every conceivable condition in his favor, and his final defeat in the races of 1870. The fifth chapter recounts the struggle of the Canadians to take the cup by means of the yacht "Countess of Dufferin," and describes the victory of the "Madeleine." The sixth is devoted to the final efforts of the Canadians with the "Atalanta,” and her defeat by the "Mischief." The last chapter is taken up with the preparations for the races with the "Genesta," which have just been concluded, leaving the envied cup with the New York Club.

This is a very convenient book for those who wish an authoritative record of these world-famous races. It is to be presumed that in any future edition of the book an accurate account of the races of 1885 will be added.

"A Canterbury Pilgrimage" is the most delectable record of a tour on tricycles with which we are acquainted. It is a delicious fancy to bring that famous pilgrimage which moves through the immortal poem of Chaucer from the old Tabard Inn at Southwark to the Cathedral of Canterbury, even then venerable with age and sacred associations, into contrast with a journey as nearly as possible over the same road upon a vehicle so full of nineteenth century associations as a tricycle. Besides, the book is exceedingly attractive and amusing, with its antique title-page, its quaint illustrations of the events which befell the riders on the way, and the pictures of old English towns and scenery, old houses, odd characters, ending with views of the noble old Cathedral of Canterbury. The paper is excellent, the printing perfect, and the margins of most generous breadth.

The text is well written, redolent with humor, filled with admirable bits of description of scenes on the way, sketches of character, and places of historic and literary interest, with alluring visions of cool, clean old taverns, and of the cathedral where the pilgrimage ends.

This book shows how much quiet and inexpensive enjoyment may be obtained from such a ride by people who have the observing eye, the appreciation of the quaint, odd, and the beautiful; and when there is added the skill of the artist and the pen of the ready writer, and publishers such as those who have put forth this book, we have a result which is a great and permanent delectation to the reader.

"Lawn Tennis" is a neat little manual by Lieutenant S. C. F. Peile, who is probably the best English authority on the game. There is a very full body of laws and directions laid down for the instruction of those persons who are prepared to learn lawn tennis so as to play it with that "vigor of the game," that seriousness and devotion which characterized Mrs. Battle's playing of whist, as immortalized by Charles Lamb. If this book shall prove of sufficient authority to adjudicate the disputes which are constantly arising on lawn-tennis grounds, it will be a godsend.

Lawn tennis has spread all over America, and in private grounds and in places of summer resort the mysterious white lines and the netting may be seen. The Americans rarely import a game without making some modifications; accordingly, Mr. R. D. Sears, of Boston, has kept these modifications in view, and made Lieutenant Peile's book more acceptable to American players.

W. C. MACY.