Asiatic Quarterly Review (Full Title: The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review, and Oriental and Colonial Record): Volume XIII, No. 26 [‎540v] (205/238)

418
Reviews and Notices.
from the windows opposite. Since i860 the club has pursued the even
tenor of its prosperous way, disturbed only by those questions which
are a standing difficulty with every club committee—the admission of
strangers, the rules as to smoking, and the coffee-room expenditure. The
Oriental Club evidently regarded the last with a tender eye, for when their
chef w r as imprisoned for stealing the club property, the committee pen
sioned his wife and family. There are many excellent stories scattered
through these pages, and the author has made a readable work from
unpromising material, but there is one defect: the references to India are
^ very few, but they are generally wrong.
IC.
Luzac and Co ; 46, Great Russell Street, London, 1901.
9. Arabic Manual. A Colloquial Handbook in the Syrian Dialect, for
the Use of Visitors to Syria and Palestine, containing a Simplified Grammar,
a Comprehensive English and Arabic Vocabulary and Dialogues. The
whole in English characters, carefully transliterated, the pronunciation
being fully indicated, by F. E. Crow, late H.B.M. Vice-Consul at Beirut.
This is No. IV. of Luzac’s “ Oriental Grammar Series,” the other three being
“ Manual of Hebrew Syntax,” “ Manual of Hebrew Grammar,” and “A
Modern Persian Colloquial Grammar.” The title fully explains the con
tents of this handy volume of 333 pages, which is a practical guide to the
spoken languages of Syria and Palestine. It will be found most useful by
both visitors to the East and students. We can fully recommend it.
Macmillan and Co., Ltd. ; London, 1901 .
10 . The Brahma Samaj and Arya Samaj in their Bearing upon
Christianity:—a Study in Indian Theism, by Frank Lillingston, M.A.
This little book is the w T ork of a cultured and sympathetic mind, a study
from the Christian standpoint of the best-known theistic schools of modern
India. The author apparently addresses himself primarily to European
readers, although not without a hope that his work may catch the eye of
native students also; but in this, as in some other matters, he is occa
sionally too busy with his own intentions and ideas to explain himself
clearly to his audience. The introduction deals with the past history of
monotheism in India, but this is much the poorest part of the book. The
writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. is at his best in dealing with the Brahmo Samaj, where the influence
of Western thought, becoming very visible, enables him to get into contact
with the Eastern mind. He has sketched fully and clearly the difference
between the easy eclecticism of the earlier Samaj, founded by Ram Mohan
Rai, and the more ardent and enthusiastic school of Keshab Chander Sen.
Ram Mohan Rai, the founder of the original Samaj, who made a fortune
as head-clerk in a Government office, and always displayed a lively
sense of the good things of this life, was hardly the man to count the
world well lost for the love of God. Endowed with a lively intellect, an
open mind, and a true admiration for virtue, he was able to found a philo
sophic school which imparted a certain elevation of character to its disciples,