The Atlantic Monthly.

The leading paper of the May Atlantic is upon "Henrik Ibsen, his early career as Post and Playwright." The article is almost entirely biographical and not critical. The writer makes the curious assertion that Ibsen is Danish and not Norwegian, as the Norwegian blood which may have been introduced at several points is only through the females of his line ! This is ignoring mothers with a vengeance ! "Sir Peter Osborne" is an account of the father of Dorothy, wife of Sir William Temple, whose letters have been recently published. "Rudolph" is a darkling sort of story, not good as we are led to expect from the beginning. "Literary Shibboleth" indicates that Agnes Reppher writes with less care than she used to do. "Rod's Salvation," a story in two parts, opens with a pleasant salty flavor of the seaside. The funeral of Mary, Queen of Scots, is as vividly described as if the describer saw it yesterday. Mrs. Deland's story, and "Over the Teacups," roll on as usual, though Henry James' slow waves have finally lapped the shore of finish.

Oliver T. Morton concludes his marshalling together for reprobation of "Some Popular Objections to Civil Service Reform." A critical article touches "Some Recent Volumes of French Criticism," and there is an article by Kate Hilliard, whose name is nowadays seen so seldom, upon "The Easter Hare." The Contributor's Club is very pale and fibreless.

The poetry by Edith Thomas and Dr. S. WeirMitchell is of the usual level.