Koreans at Home. By Constance Tayler. (Cassell and Co. 3s.
6d., —It would not be saying too much to affirm that the Koreans are degenerate. They taught art, for instance, to other nations, but have now sunk into universal mediocrity. They are lacking in courage ; they have very little notion indeed of public duty. Yet they have their virtues, more in evidence, it may be said, in the lower than in the upper class. Continuous misgovernment, in fact, has had much to do with making them what they are. The present Emperor has had an unhappy experience. His wife was murdered by bravoes hired by his own father, who dreaded her intelligence and aptitude for affairs. Had she lived she might have made something of her weak but well-meaning husband. Mrs. Tayler has much that is curious to tell us about Korean ways, marriage and funeral customs, &c. The position of women is one of inferiority ; but there are indications that it was once better than it now is. It is worth noting that small-pox is so prevalent and so fatal that a Korean father when giving the number of his children never counts those who are not protected by having gone through it. This might make any one but an anti-vaccinationist hesitate. The volume has many good illustra- tions.
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