TWO BOOKS ON THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.*
"Amseen ROBBERY WITH VIOLHNCIL—While riding his bicycle between two and three o'clock yesterday meaning along the un- frequented locality of the Pimlico Road, a young man of foreign extraction, named Josephs liovinsky, perceived the body of an individual stretched apparently motionless in the gutter. He alighted from his machine and discovered that the victim of the occurrence bad been assaulted by some criminals, who, after relieving him of his watch and all his available cash, bad made off undetected. The unfortunate victim, who appears to be well connected, has yet to be identified. He lies at present at the Three Stars Hotel in a critical condition, whither his compassionate rescuer escorted him in a cab. Hopes are entertained of his ulti- mate recovery. The police are on the alert."
This is only one of the horrible guises in which Mr. Warner retells, as a warning to the Harrow boys for whom his delightful book is written, the story of the man who " went down from Jerusalem to Jericho." It is full of the concrete examples in which the minds of the young delight
Plumping himself down in his capacious arm-chair beside a easy fire ho lighted a fragrant cigar.' . . . No man plumps him- self down in an arm-chair which is two sines too small for him and if cigars are not fragrant' we buy another kind."
His advice to the boy who is faced by the necessity of writing a school essay on Reptiles or on Charity is admirably practical. He advises the making of skeletons, and has several excellent devices, which he characterizes as " Mental Tin-Openers." At the end of the book he deals with more general questions— originality, colour, and so forth. This is more difficult ground, and, also f Mr. Warner has nothing new to tell us of the mysteries of aesthetics. However, his book is for boys, and they would far rather hear about tin-openers.
Mr. Vizetelly's Essentials of English Speech and Literature is an American book of no particular distinction. The author's mind is of the typo wbieh cheerfully selects "a hundred best books," sighs for an Academy of Literature which should be " authoritative," and deprecates along. He gives one amusing example of current Ammicaniems " The other nightin Western Philadelphia a little girl surprised her mother by Baying • I'm not stuck en this bread.' 'Margie; said her mother reprovingly, • you want to cut that slang out.'
• That's a poach of a way of correcting the child,' remarked the
• (1) Oa N. WuSiul f English. Ar Townsend Wanton M.A. London, Biocide and Son. [So. 6d. ret.1—(S) Easentialo el Enolith Sputa and Lilo,. tam By F. H. Viaatelly, Litt.D., LL.D. Loudon Funk and Watt:ant [Ott uot.1 father. 'I know,' replied the mother, `but I just wanted to put her wise.'" And with this hunch we close "—to use a phrase from a masterly example of advertising dialect which adorns a recent advertisement of "Prince Albert Tobacco."
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