mercialism of the age. Literature is now a profession, and a very profitable one to a writer who can supply the popular goods. Trilby has brought its lucky author at least one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. Novelists are like most other people, and enjoy making money. They fritter away in magazine stories and short books material and genius which might produce a masterpiece. When a novelist has made a reputation his name will sell all he can produce, and he too often writes for revenue only. This branch of literature needs to-day men and women who do not care so much for money and immediate fame as to produce the highest art, who can take some mighty conception and work upon it until we once more have a masterpiece. For masterpieces are not made in a day nor to order. Only a man of such genius as comes but once in centuries, a Shakespeare, say, could produce high art with a printer's devil at the door shouting for copy and a tenthousand-dollar check waiting at the publisher's.

One result of the enormous production of fiction is the repetition of the same ideas, incidents, and characters. Even titles have been used more than once. This is seldom the result of plagiarism. Sometimes it is mere accidental coincidence, and sometimes an unconscious echo of some half-forgotten author. Sometimes it is the reappearance of one of the great types of human experience and thought. The conception of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde can be traced back over two hundred years to a play of the Spanish dramatist Calderon. Once more we confess that "there is no new thing under the sun.”

Since this is so, where is the mighty genius, for whom we all are longing to find a topic? It is not necessary that he should have a new story to tell. Shakespeare's stories were all old, even in his day. Originality of treatment is more needed than originality of topic. The mazes of the human heart have not yet been all explored. Hawthorne, Auerbach, and Hall Caine have told us much the same story, yet in wonderfully variant ways. But the writer in search of a comparatively fresh field will find that such epochs as the East Indian Sepoy mutiny and the American civil war are untouched by any genius, and that the age is waiting for some one who can deal with the great topic of the relations between Christianity and sociology.

A story upon this last theme would be a purpose novel of the

very highest class. Such novels are not always the most entertaining, but are the most profitable. Those who read for pleasure will find it mostly in the romantic school. Its stories are usually short, and can often be read at a sitting. A man tired in body or in brain when he began will feel much refreshed as he rises, chuckling with delight, from such a book as Crockett's Lilac Sunbonnet or Davis's Princess Aline. But the one who reads only for pleasure will miss the mightiest works of the mightiest minds.

This paper may perhaps appear somewhat pessimistic. It is useless to deny the inferiority of recent fiction, but we must remember that fiction is but following the course of all departments of all literatures. All "golden ages" lie near the beginning. It was inevitable that fiction should descend on one side into delicate and pretty works and on the other into morbid and extravagant forms. Yet the immediate prospect is encouraging. The appearance in one year-1894-of two such novels as Marcella and the Manxman, both superior to anything else since George Eliot, and crowding very near the first rank, was a very hopeful sign. There is a healthy revulsion against the morbid and unclean forms of fiction. The popular "short story," in which Americans excel as much as the English do in the longer novel, may not be the highest art, but is nearly always bright, healthful, and pleasing. The sparkling wit of Davis, the powerful portraits from American life by Harold Frederic and Miss Wilkins, the historical works of Weyman in French fields, and of Gilbert Parker and Miss Catherwood in American, the humor and pathos of the new Scotch school-these things make up an amount of good work which gives us courage for the future.

These closing years of the century will probably not see the production of any novel of the very highest rank, but they will see much bright, helpful, and hopeful writing in both English and American fiction.

Furank S. Jawnsend.

ART. VII.-CHINESE LITERATI IN PEKING UNIVERSITY.

THE strange sight of a Chinaman walking demurely along one of the streets of Rome inspired Goethe to write one of his choice smaller poems, a poem as exquisitely beautiful as a piece of rare chinaware. How the soul of this great Teutonic poet and philosopher would be stirred could he behold Chinese literati, possessing the highest literary degrees, peacefully and patiently pursuing their studies in a Christian institution in Peking! Truly the unexpected has happened. During the past year an event has occurred to be paralleled nowhere else in the Flowery Kingdom. Chinese literati, representing the three regular governmental ranks of Hsiu-Tsai, Chü-Jên, and ChinShih, and also that pinnacle of Chinese scholarship, the Hanlin, or "Forest of Pencils," have been docile students in Peking University. Jehovah has accomplished this by using Japan as his "rod of iron." What the efficient United States Commission state in their recent report to the Secretary of State in regard to the dastardly murders at Ku-Cheng and in numerous former riots, as well as in the latest in Ssu-Ch'uan, applies equally to all:

The literati, from whom nearly all the officials are chosen, are, almost, without exception, antiforeign. This class does not hesitate, from time to time, by the circulation of false and ridiculous rumors and by incendiary publications, to play upon the superstitions and cupidity of the rowdy element, thus inciting this rowdy class to acts of lawlessness and violence.

Now, when we consider that in nearly every riot against foreigners and Christianity in China these literati have been proved to be the instigators, and also the fact that the literati who last year entered Peking University represent all grades of Chinese governmental graduates, including the Hanlin, whose examinations are supervised by the emperor himself, we may realize to some extent how radical is their present changed attitude. By means of Japanese cannon and American money Jehovah has given Peking University the unique honor of welcoming to our Christian halls of learning these "wise men of the East." Had we to-day ten times our present resources our hands would be more than full in trying to accommodate greater

numbers of these choice, brainy youth who are now vainly asking for admission.

It may, perhaps, not be out of place to cast a glance at this Christian educational institution, located in the capital of China, which has thus attracted these representatives of the powerful literati, who control the public opinion of the vast Chinese empire. Peking University was organized in 1888 as an outgrowth of Wiley Institute; was incorporated under the laws of the State of New York in 1890; and graduated its first class in 1892. One fact should be especially borne in mind-that Peking University is entirely unincumbered with debt. At its inception plans were devised for raising endowments in the form of professorships, tutorships, scholarships, perpetual and annual, prize funds, and scientific supply funds, in order to relieve our already overburdened Missionary Society. With this end in view two professorships of $30,000 each have been started, four perpetual scholarships, and four prize funds for excellence in particular studies.

An admirably located property, extending over an area of thirteen acres and including in part the premises formerly belonging to the Italian legation, has been acquired. The campus was, a few years ago, tastefully planted with more than one hundred and fifty trees and shrubs-the gifts of foreign and native friends residing in Peking. Durbin Hall, a stately, substantial brick building of over two hundred feet front and two stories high, was erected four years ago as the first of a series of collegiate buildings. Now, however, the incoming rush of applicants for admission has more than crowded its utmost capacity, compelling four students to live in one room designed to accommodate only two, which is detrimental alike to health and morals. A good library in English, Chinese, and other languages, to which has been added a well-patronized reading room, has been started. To it valuable additions, including publications of the Imperial Chinese Customs and of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., are from time to time being made. The museum, with its exhibit from various lands, is also an interesting feature of our educational work. An electric plant, valued at over $3,500 United States currency, a phonograph, a telephone, a manikin for the medical department, and various other apparatus have been collected.

In no other foreign country has an American Christian institution of learning received such hearty support as has Peking University in China. This is evidenced by the representative character of its Board of Managers, comprising diplomats, as Colonel Charles Denby, United States Minister to China, officials, as Sir Robert Hart, G.C.M. G., merchants, and missionaries of different Protestant denominations. Of the entire number of managers one third must be members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while the Board of Trustees in New York, who hold sole and ultimate authority, is composed exclusively of members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Viceroy Li Hung Chang has promised our medical graduates positions in his foreign-drilled army and navy, with full religious liberty. Our graduates are already doing effective work, not only in the Church, as efficient preachers and teachers, but also in business life, as in the Imperial Chinese Customs, where the Sabbath is observed as a day of rest. To their credit be it said that on Sundays they teach classes in the Sunday school and, by their gifts, support other students in Peking University.

Peking University has already proved herself to be a sanctuary of Jehovah. The remarkable revivals during the past few winters, when the usual stolidness of Chinese character was melted away, and sins were confessed, animosities healed, wrongs righted, and the joys of salvation were experienced, abundantly attest the presence of Him who is mighty to save.

An intense thirst after Western learning, which made Japan so powerful, though previously despised as an insignificant island of dwarfs, is beginning to be felt by the upper classes of China. To satisfy this thirst secular colleges and universities, where Christ and Christianity are ignored, are being, or have already been, established in Tientsin, Hangchow, and other large cities. Opposed to these stands Peking University, founded upon evangelical Christianity. The only hope for China is the renovation of both mind and heart. This can only be fully accomplished in Christian institutions. Listen to what Abel Stevens, the eminent historian of Methodism, says upon this subject:

The project of the Peking University I do not hesitate to pronounce one of the most important phases of our whole Chinese mission scheme. We must promulgate the Gospel there, indeed, as the primary instrumen