[Illustration: musical score] Write to me, love, When thou art far away, Write every thought which glances o’er thy mind,— Write to me, love, And let thy fond words say, All that may spirit unto Spirit bind! Write to me, love, Write to me; Write to me, love, Write to me! Write to me, love, And let each glowing line Teem with the vows we have so often ta’en. Write to me, love, And when the treasure’s mine, Resume thy task, and write to me again. Write to me, love, Write to me; Write to me, love, Write to me! * * * * * REVIEW OF NEW BOOKS. _History of Charles VIII., King of France. By Count Philip de Segur, Lieutenant-General, Peer of France, Member of the French Academy, Author of “Napoleon’s Russian Campaign,” etc. Translated by Richard R. Montgomery. Two volumes, duodecimo. Philadelphia, Herman Hooker._ This work in its original language has been very popular, and some critics have deemed it the best of Segur’s productions. It is a history of France while that country was in the transition state between feudalism and centralism, and is written in the picturesque style of the old chroniclers. Louis XI., the father of Charles, died in 1483. He had wielded the sceptre with strong hands, and given an extraordinary impulse to public affairs. It was therefore necessary that the government should be administered by an experienced person during the minority of the young king. There was a deep and pervading dissatisfaction in the country, especially among the nobles, who had been repressed by Louis, and were now anxious to reclaim their lost privileges. Anne of Beaujeu, the eldest daughter of the deceased monarch, and wife of the lord of Bourbon Beaujeu, had been selected by her father for the regency. She was not more than twenty-two years old, but at that early age was shrewd, resolute and dignified—the wisest and most beautiful woman of the realm. Her first act was the convocation of the Estates General at Tours, an event long celebrated on account of the ability and independence manifested by the deputies in their debates. She afterward undertook and accomplished the conquest of Bretagne—the great measure for which the regency was distinguished,—and finally, having maintained her position amid innumerable dangers, adding from year to year to her own and the national glory, resigned the government to Charles. A new policy was from that time pursued. The young king was ignorant and capricious, guided by his own mad impulses, or the wishes of intriguing courtiers, to whom he had given the places before occupied by gravest and wisest counsellors; and his reign, disastrous to France, prepared