The first volume of Mr. McMaster's entertaining work on the History of the People of the United States7 appeared just three years ago this summer, and the lively interest which it then aroused gave promise of the cordial welcome that would be generally extended to future volumes of the same work. The first volume closed with the year 1790. The second volume, which has recently been published, continues the easy and entertaining narrative down to 1803. Within its seven chapters there is a vast fund of valuable information in regard to life and society as they existed under the early administrations. These chapters cover the experimental years of the Republic under the Constitution,—the years which, so susceptible of popular treatment, are so particularly engaging to students of American history. At so formative a period in the national development, when there was open contest between Congress and the States, when the group of undoubted aristocrats gathered around Hamilton were in direct opposition to the extreme republicanism of the circle which acknowledged Jefferson as its chief, the dominance of English or French influence was an element of great moment to the future of the nation. Mr. McMaster has most admirably handled this phase of his subject.

The account of town and country life as they were at the beginning of the present century, and of the growth of those social usages which we have come almost to regard as instinctive, is very entertaining and instructive. Barring certain blemishes and a few inaccuracies, which ought to be excusable in a work of such character, Mr. McMaster's two volumes form a very valuable and welcome contribution to our national literature. It was a felicitous thought which prompted him to enter this peculiar field, and to gather up the important facts which writers on political history have generally avoided. So thoroughly and so admirably has Mr. McMaster worked this field that we doubt whether any other writer, coming after him, will be tempted to invade the same territory. The work thus far ends with the negotiations which led to the Louisiana purchase, and we are led to expect three more instalments before it shall be completed.

Should any readers be tempted by Mrs. Gould's article in this number of The Bay State Monthly to visit Nantucket, they will do well to take with them, for handy reference and trustworthy guidance, Mr. Godfrey's Island of Nantucket: What it was and what it is.8 It is a complete index and guide to all that is interesting in the island,—tells just how to get there and what to see there,—and contains, moreover, several special articles, by different hands, on the history, botany, geology, and entomology of the island. The maps accompanying the text were made expressly for the book.

A fitting companion to Mr. Wallace's "Malay Archipelago," which appeared some ten or a dozen years ago, is a new book, entitled A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago,9 of which Henry O. Forbes is the author. Mr. Forbes revisited most of the islands which Mr. Wallace had described, but his route in each island was altogether different. He gives us the first detailed account of the Timor-laut Islands, with very interesting and valuable ethnological notes. The work is divided into six parts, devoted to the Cocos-Keeling Islands, Java, Sumatra, the Moluccas, Timor-laut, Buru, and Timor. Many illustrations are interspersed throughout the text, and the whole work is exceedingly vigorous, graphic, and abounding in interest.

Under the Rays of the Aurora Borealis; In the Land of the Lapps and Kvæns10 by Sophus Tromholt, edited by Carl Siewers, furnishes a narrative of journeys in Lapland, Finland, and Northern Russia in 1882-83. It also contains an account of the recent circumpolar scientific expeditions, and a popular statement of what is known of the Aurora Borealis, which the author has studied long and carefully. A map and nearly one hundred and fifty illustrations add greatly to the value and attractiveness of the work.

Mr. Winfred A. Stearns, a close student of natural history, and one of the authors of "New England Bird Life," has prepared a work entitled Labrador: a sketch of its People, its Industries, and its Natural History.11 Although not written in a very agreeable style, the work is one which deserves perusal, and will certainly command some attention. Mr. Stearns visited Labrador three times, once in 1875, once in 1880, and again in 1882. The results of these journeys and observations are herein set down in a compact volume of three hundred pages. With the exception of a valuable paper on Labrador in the "Encyclopedia Britannica," little of a modern and useful character has been written giving anything like a fair description of the country and its resources. Mr. Stearns book supplies the omission, and is cordially to be commended. It ought to pave the way for a good many excursion parties.

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