Française, edited by MARGARET F. SKEAT, late Student of Newnham College; Junior Lecturer in Modern Languages at the Royal Holloway College. Authorised edition. First edition, September, 1899.

"The delightful stories contained in this volume are carefully annotated and supplied with an exhaustive vocabulary of difficult words."-Daily Express (Dublin).

Any list of the best writers of short stories, in any language, would undoubtedly contain the names of François Coppée, and that not many places down. Just as certainly, any collection of the best of his own short stories could not help including 'Un Accident,' 'La Vieille Tunique,' 'Le Remplaçant,' and 'Les Vices du Capitaine,' and those are four out of the six which Miss Skeat has selected for the volume which she contributes to 'Siepmann's French Series.' The other two, 'La Medaille' and 'Le Parrain,' hardly reach the same high level of interest and pathos, but they are admirable specimens of French style, and by no means unworthy of the position assigned them. Taken together they constitute an admirable text, but a difficult one, too, and one to which even advanced classes will hardly do justice without a considerable amount of help. That is where Miss Skeat's notes come in. They could hardly be bettered. Not only do they deal with points that really require explanation, but they do so clearly, though concisely, and in a way which bears testimony to practical experience."-Glasgow Herald.

"Both these volumes (Contes Choisis and Le Tour du Monde) are well adapted for reading books on account of their intrinsic merit. The vocabulary and notes and the appendices by the general editors will be found most practical and useful."-Educational Review.

"Miss Skeat is to be congratulated on what we believe is her second venture in educational literature. She has chosen her stories well, and given infinite pains to rendering the notes complete, and the vocabulary helpful. In a short introduction the essential facts about Coppée's life and work are clearly given. The texts themselves, it need hardly be remarked, are only suitable for advanced classes, owing to the colloquial flavour of the language; but for these they will be found very valuable, especially as the pupils will incidentally acquire some knowledge of French life and ways, and of the topography of Paris (there is a serviceable map of the part of Paris referred to in several of the tales). . . The vocabulary is an excellent piece of work... The last appendix treats of the formation of verbs. A'word and phrase book' and a key have also been published."-Educational Times. "We have already expressed our satisfaction with the general plan of this series. The stories in this volume have been well chosen and edited. For advanced classes and private students they are admirable. They will help to familiarise the English student with one of the most delicate of modern French prose styles."-Schoolmaster.

"Miss Skeat, who, if we remember rightly, took a high place at Cambridge, has prepared an excellent school edition of Coppée's tales for the advanced section of Siepmann's French Series of Reading Books, the main features of which are by this time fairly well known to teachers. Miss Skeat gives an excellent biographical sketch of her author and her notes are all that can be wished."-Bookseller.

"Contes Choisis' differs from the other volumes of the series in containing a vocabularly of uncommon words. The appendices of each volume of this series, containing vivâ voce exercises, passages for translation in French, and notes on word-formation, add materially to its utility."-Literature.

Française, edited by EUGÈNE PELLISSIER, Professor Agrégé au Lycée du Havre, formerly Assistant Master at Clifton College, and Lecturer at University College, Bristol. Authorised Edition. First edition, September, 1899.

"Messrs. Siepmann and Pellissier have done well to add to their advanced French Series, the Vicomte de Vogue's charming little work 'Cœurs Russes.' It is supplied with notes which convey much information, whilst they escape wearying young readers by being too purely philological. The stories are admirable reading, though Varvara Afanasiévna seems almost too sad to be included in a book intended for the young. They are written in a style of the highest order, and throw much light on Russian life and temperament. These characteristics show them to be of distinct educational value. Here and there a trait of Russian character is laid bare in a short incisive phrase likely to sink into the reader's mind; whilst the modern note that pervades all the stories but the last, is likely to be attractive to young students."Cambridge Review.

"M. de Vogüé is classical in his tastes as in his style; his readers will not learn from him the language or the ideas of the boulevard or the music-hall. He is a traveller; he will entertain them with charming pictures of Egypt, Palestine, Russia; he is a philosopher, and he will open to them new views of the literary, social and economic movements of our time; he is a Christian, and he will lay before them his schemes for harmonising Christianity with a world which would fain get rid of it. To those for whom such themes, discussed in the language of an accomplished master of French, have an interest, M. de Vogue will be one of the most engaging of writers. For the young readers of our schools and colleges his works, or rather selections from them such as Messrs. Macmillan have here begun to publish, are specially suitable."—New Ireland Review.

"The idea with which this series originated—namely, the introduction of works by distinguished French authors, who are prominent in their own country, but whose books have not yet received that recognition among our school classics which is their due-is being carried out with discrimination."-Literature.

"The tales here collected are illustrative of the life of a great nation, and the experiences of 'Russian hearts,' which the Vicomte details under various aspects, bring home to other hearts the sense of the brotherhood of man in all countries, in doing, suffering, living, and loving. The work of the editor is sympathetic, scholarly, and informing."-Educational News.

"The text chosen for this new volume of Siepmann's French Series is an excellent one. It has the distinguishing merit of introducing a writer whose works, though they have received the highest recognition in France, have never yet been drawn upon for school purposes; and

whose polished and picturesque style is well calculated to make even learners appreciate the beauties of the French language. In addition to that, the stories selected are exceedingly interesting in themselves. The editor's contribution to the volume also deserves great praise. His introduction does justice to the author both biographically and critically, and his notes do justice to the text. Though numerous, they are not superfluous; and they are clearly, though tersely, drawn up. Taking it all in all, the book is one of the best that could be put into the hands of an advanced form."-Glasgow Herald.

"This pleasant book gives an instructive view of the pathos and beauty as well as of the mental chaos of the great Russian people. The notes are adequate."-Academy.

"The class books of which this one will introduce middle and upper forms to specimens of good modern French Literature. We are glad of it, for many of the texts now used have been worked through ad nauseam, while a wealth of literature useful for school purposes has been left untouched. The book is got up in the most thorough fashion. Besides the usual notes, schemes of words and phrases, of idioms and exercises in syntax, have been prepared, and suitable extracts translated into English ready to be used as test re-translations into French. The text thus supplies in itself a pleasant reading book and a course of words, grammar, and composition, all got, as they should be, in and from the reading itself. We wish the series well."-Schoolmaster.

"As far as style is concerned, nothing could be better than these short stories . . The notes have been compiled with care... Candidates preparing themselves for examinations will find many good tips The fourth appendix deals with adjectives formed by suffixes from adjectives and particles,' and is clearly put together."-School World.

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"Mr. Pellissier's notes almost realise our ideal of what notes to a school text should be, and Miss Skeat's, though occasionally unnecessary, are in quality almost as good. To the Cœurs Russes there is no vocabularly, but Miss Skeat gives thirty pages of selected words, explaining important derivations and distinctions of meaning, and pointing out idioms which every advanced students ought to make sure of knowing."-Guardian.

"M. Pellissier's notes are above the average, and M. de Vogue's sketches are pleasantly written, and may interest intelligent boys in the upper forms."-Athenæum.

"Will be found well worthy of the place which the editors have assigned to it. In both cases the editorial duties have been admirably performed, and public schoolboys may be congratulated upon the greatly improved and much more interesting character of the books they now have to read."-Bookseller.

edited by ERNEST WEEKLEY, M.A., late Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge, Professor of French at the University College, Nottingham. First edition, July, 1899; reprinted September, 1900.

"Le Roi des Montagnes' depends for its interest on the author's abundant wit and his exquisite power of presenting ludicrous situations. The School Editions of this book already in existence are too long to be read in class in a term or two, here it is condensed to ninety-nine pages of text."

"The use of this entertaining romance in the class-room is certainly calculated to make French lessons more popular than they were in the days when the favourite text-books were Madame de Staël's 'Dix Années d'Exil,' Scribe's 'Bertrand et Raton,' and Emile Souvestre's 'Le Philosophe sous les Toits.'. . . The work, on the whole, is admirably done."-Literature.

"The book is provided with a good set of the sort of exercises which have made the earlier numbers of Siepmann's series so well known and popular. Professor Weekley's notes show the hand of the scholar and the teacher, and his introduction is commendably brief and to the point."-Guardian.

"This highly entertaining story loses none of its charm by appearing among Siepmann's excellent French series. The book is intended for advanced students. Though there is no vocabulary, the concise notes furnish sufficient help to the thoughtful reader. The list of English words for vivá voce drill also afford some clue. The appendix contains passages and idioms for retranslation into French. The general plan of the series is calculated to make the very most of the material at hand.' -Educational Review.

"The notes are good, and the appendices by the general editors still better."-Cambridge Review.

"It would be hard to find a more entertaining or a more useful class reading book than About's celebrated story. Prof. Weekley here edits it for Siepmann's Series. He has curtailed the story somewhat, adding in English explanatory connecting matter where necessary. The introduction gives an account of About's life and work, together with sufficient of the history of modern Greece to make the story intelligible. The notes are good; just enough and not too much. They are, too, written with judgment, and are calculated to lead to habits of observation in the pupils. The volume closes with the usual exercises written by the general editors of the series,-viz., practice in words and phrases, in sentences, and, finally, in continuous English passages (founded on the French text) to be turned into French.". -Schoolmaster.

"Le Roi des Montagnes' was produced as a Romance of Grecian Life at the time of the Crimean War; full of incidents of brigandage, satire of the Administration, and sketches of humour spiced with wit, it attracted much attention-and even yet retains its adroit esprit and sharpness of phrase. Here it is adapted for the use of schools, with excellent skill and with suitable Notes."-Educational News.

by G. G. LOANE, M.A., Assistant Master at St. Paul's School. First edition, 1899.

"Mr. Loane's adaptation of Alfred de Vigny's masterpiece for advanced pupils, maintains the high standard of excellence already set by other volumes in the series to which it belongs. The notes are good and to the point, and the story in its shortened and abbreviated form loses but little in interest. The appendices for which the general editors are responsible embody a highly important principle, too often overlooked when learning a foreign language at home, namely the need of acquiring a copious vocabulary. We have not all the prodigious memory of the Scotchman who learnt the whole of his Liddell and Scott by heart and found it very interesting, though a trifle 'disconnectit.' Learning one's vocabulary out of the reading book is a very different matter."-Saturday Review, April 1st, 1899.

"One of the best historical novels in the French language has been suitably condensed and carefully edited; it will, no doubt, be read with delight by hosts of boys. The hundred pages of text should not take up more than a term, as this is a book eminently suited for rapid reading. The notes are clear and to the point. We have noticed little that calls for remark."-Educational Times, April, 1899.

"To bring De Vigny's long romance within the limits of a school book, a considerable amount, first of omission, and, consequent on that, of arrangement and adaptation, has been necessary. In carrying out both processes, the editor has shown good judgment. He has succeeded in bringing together all the essentials of Monsieur le Grand's dramatic story, and in shaping them into consecutive and interesting narrative, which few but those who know the original would suspect of being only a fragment. The notes are well drawn up, and have been kept within such wise limits that even those teachers who like to leave a few difficulties for the learner himself to wrestle with, will have no reason to complain on the score of superfluous and indiscriminate help. But that which gives the volume its chief practical value will be found in the appendices. The passages for retranslation into French are particularly to be commended. They supply material for the only reasonable kind of 'prose' writing-that which is based on actual knowledge of words, and not on dictionary work merely. The sentences on syntax and idioms, and the words and phrases for viva voce drill, will also be found useful-directly, for the reproductory passages, and, indirectly, for conversational purposes. Indeed, from whatever point of view the book be considered, it is a thoroughly good and useful one."-Glasgow Herald, March 25th, 1899.

"The plan of the series is now well known, and has again been excellently carried out. Cinq-Mars is perhaps the very best example of the romantic school of historical fiction in France, and is a delightful story in Scott's manner. To bring it within the editor's limits, he has been obliged to give only the main story, but this has been skilfully done. The introduction, though short, gives a very good view of the historical setting of the plot, and the notes are satisfactory.”—Academy.