The Atlantic for March is an unusually excellent number. The chapters of Mr. Stockton's "House of Martha" introduce the "Lady who sits on the Sand," the "Middle-aged Man of the Sea," the "Shell Man," the "Lover in Check," the "Interpolation," and last, but not least, a "Person," and in general show that Mr. Stockton is in the highest of spirits. Miss Murfree's serial "Felicia" ends the present number and ends tragically. Mr. Francis P. Church contributes an interesting paper about Richard Grant White, and in a bright autobiographic fragment, entitled "My Schooling," we are told of James Freeman Clarke's early educational training. "The State University in America," by George E. Howard, advocates the establishment of universities in each State, which shall be universities in something more than name, and the relegation of the many colleges of insufficient means to a grade intermediate between the school and the the university.

Professor Albert Bushnell Hart contributes an able paper on "The Speaker as Premier." It is a timely consideration of a question which has been much before the public of late. Mr. Lowell continues his articles on travel in Japan. Perhaps the most valuable contribution to the number is Francis Parkman's first paper on the "Capture of Louisbourg by the New England Militia," an historical study of much importance,-with an incidental sketch of the Wentworth House, at New Castle, Maine, which is very charming. Miss Agnes Repplier, in an amusing and thoughtful paper, called "Pleasure: A Heresy," appeals not for more cultivation in life, but for a recognized habit of enjoyment. The article is full of good-natured banter at the expense of the self-consciously cultivated persons, who demand from both literature and art, not pleasure, but some serious moral purpose. A review of Mr. Aldrich's new volume of poetry, of one or two French novels, and of Mr. Sargent's Silva of North America, with the usual comment on new books and the Contributors' Club, conclude the number.