11 NOVEMBER 1865, Page 20

Major Jack Downing. (Warne.) Phosniriana. (Beeton.)--There is very little that

is amusing in either of these volumes. Bad spelling is principally relied on for fun in the former Volume, and exaggeration in the latter. Both are well-known elements of American humour, and no doubt, owing to the number of shrewd, half-educated men who come to the fore in the United States, a good deal that is both wise and witty has been expressed in very queer English, and with very wild illustrations ; and a taste for this kind of writing has been generally diffused there, with perhaps not the keenest discrimination between humour and non- sense. There is much more of the latter than the former in the impor- tations before us, and all whom it may concern may be assured that he who steals them steals trash.