CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS AND GIFT BOOKS.
Bida's Illustrations to St. Luke. (Sampson Low and tlod)--As elaborate and handsomely printed volume in the same style and-illus- trated by the same artist as "St. Mark." Although this gospel isonewhicih affords more scope than its predecessor, we do not think, in spito of some fine pictures, that it is treated with such originality. The mannerism of the hands is still apparent, though considerable advance has been made. The face of Christ has not the same individuality throughout that characterised the former work. Indeed, the attempt to. give by softening and blending all the shades a milder expression to. Christ's countanance,.and depict the heavenly brightness with which great painters have invested it, has resulted in many instances in. am expression indicative of imbecility, notably in "A Woman glorified' Jeans." The only good fall-face is in "The Treachery of Judas," a. picture of great power. This personage seems to have particular attractions for the genius of M. Bids. The profile portraits of Christ,. on the other hand, are very much superior, and easily recognised.. In the plate, "Jesus and the Scribes and Elders," there is as fine a study of countenances as any in the "Si. Mark." The treatment of the sea and lurid sky in "Jesus asleep during the Tempest" is exceedingly truth- ful, and in our opinion the best illustration is the "Departure of the Prodigal Son." The self-dependence and hauteur of the younger son, the sorrowful countenance of the father, the grief of the mother,. and tearful solicitude of the sister, the ill-concealed sneer of the elder brother, and the faithful hound, are portrayed with refreshing- originality, for so hackneyed a subject. "Consider the lilies, how they grow," would have done equally well for the parable of the tares.— The Abbey Church of St. Albon's. By J. Comyns Carr. Illustrated by Ernest George and R. Kent Thomas. (Seeleys.) We have had occasion to notice some of the papers contained in this volume when they appeared in the Portfolio, and we heartily welcome them in the- handsome and convenient shape which they have now assumed. The hiatory of the great Monastery of St Alban's might ho made the subject of a great book. Mr. Carr is content, having regard to the space at his disposal, to treat it with a reference to the architecture of the- Abbey Church, though he turns aside occasionally to topics of historical or social interest. What the Abbey is now, and how it has come to be what it is, is a subject which requires no.email skill in the handling, and still more, a large and liberal way of appreciating the various work of various times ; and in this volume we have both. The illustrations
are excellent. Amongst the vignettes it is difficult to choose one's
favourites ; of the five large etchings, we prefer Mr. Ernest George's "Abbey from the North-East." Not the least interesting thicgs in the book are the fac-similes from a MS. "Life of Offa," written and illustrated by Matthew Paris, the well-known chief of that remarkable school of monastic historians which flourished at St. Alban's. The originals are sketches in pen and ink.—Men of Mark : Contemporary Portraits of Distinguished Men. Photographed from life by Lock and Whitfield, with biographical notices by Thompson Cooper. (Sampson Low and Co.) The six-and-thirty portraits contained in this volume are many of them admirable. In the preface, Mr. Whitfield says, 4' While modifying, on the one hand, the crudeness which more or less is inseparable from the camera-image, and correcting the untruthful rendering of colour which occasionally occurs, I have endeavoured, on the other, to retain the character and individuality of each subject?' In this endeavour he has certainly succeeded ; witness the striking heads—if we can make a selection where all are so good—of the present Viceroy of India and Captain Burton. Lord Lytton looks very Byronic indeed. Almost the only disappointing portrait is that of Dr. Tait, who has a rather comical look of surprise on his face, as if be had been suddenly told that the Church had been disestablished and he himself pensioned off with £200 a year. The notices are of a very brief and unpretending kind, and aim only at giving facts, dates of birth, particulars of service, Sle. We must not forget to state that the portraits have been executed by the Woodbury-type process, and have, therefore, the great advantage of permanence.—In the National Portrait Gallery (Cassell and Co.) the portraits are done by some process which imitates crayon-drawing with admirable success. Tastes will differ as to the value of the style imitated—we must confess to not liking it very much ourselves—but that it is imitated as well as possible in this volume there can be no doubt. There are twenty portraits in all. Mr. Tennyson, Lord Salisbury, the Bishop of Peterborough, Lord Hartington, Mr. Lowe, Mr. Holman Hunt, are among the number. The notices are of a somewhat ambitious kind, and not always quite correct or in very good-taste. It is a curious blunder to speak of Mr. Tennyson as having been "elected an honorary Fellow of Cambridge." Again, when the writer speaks of Lord Hartington as having taken his M.A. "at the early age of twenty-one," he is evidently not aware that the early date was due to his lordship's noble birth, which conferred the privilege, not to any precocity of genius. He is evidently more at home in other biographies. His sketch of the Rev. Henry Allan is remarkably interesting, though it is not improved by such fine writing as "the earth yawned in the midst of the ecclesiastical forum, and the new minister of Union Chapel was one of those who leaped, mailed like Curtius, into the abyss."— Great St. Benedict's, by Elizabeth Thomas (Shaw),is a tale which shows considerable power, and ii; in parts at least, very good. We think that there are passages, especially in the earlier chapters, which are more suitable to a book of devotion. Beyond this, we have nothing but praise for the book. The description of Dorothy's life with the learned lady whose secretary she became, and afterwards at the East End of London, is excellent. There is also a very vigorous attack on the out-patient system of the great London hospitals. People who are capable of such disgraceful frauds as disguising themselves in shabby dresses and putting false names on their letter of recommendation are beyond the reach of any remonstrance. They are, in fact, criminals. But it is possible that some who half-unthinkingly misuse the hospital system may be influenced by reading Great St. Benedict's.—The Battle-Field of Life, by Agnes Giberne (Seeleys). This is a story of an upright and well-intentioned, but self-willed, and consequently selfish young woman is brought to bettor thoughts by the discipline of life, not the least efficacious of the influences brought to bear upon her being the example of a cousin from Canada, whom she begins with regarding with dislike and contempt, but from whom she finds herself learning much in the end. The story is well told, and no one will object to the intervention which makes every one comfortable at the last.—If any paterfamilias has a troublesome son, weary of what be is pleased to call the hardships of school (we wish that these grumblers could be transported for a week into a school as it was thirty years ago), and eager to try the amenities and delights of sea-life, let him put into the youngster's hands Two Years Abaft the Mast ; or. Life as a Sea Apprentice, by F. W. H. Symondson (Black- wood). The author describes simply and candidly, without prejudice or favour, the life of an apprentice on board a merchant-vessel of the better sort. He has tried it himself, and not found it (as is the case with nine out of ten who do try it) much to his liking. "He was per- suaded," as he euphemistically puts it, "to try a less arduous profession ashore ;" and here he gives, as a lesson, if not a warning, to those who come after him, his experiences. We do not think that these will turn away any who have a real love for sea-life, but they may be of use to those foolish fellows who waste a hundred pounds or so of hard-earned money in carrying out a baseless fancy.—Annie's Pantomime-Dream. by Ellis T. Davis (Moxon), is written after the manner of "Alice in Wonderland." It cannot be called a great success. To write good nonsense is a fine thing, but then you must not have a hankering after being sensible.—Other children's books that we have to mention are My Godmother's &WIGS from Many Lands, by Eleanore L. Hervey (Washburne); Lily's Screen, by Mrs. Sale-Barker (Routledge); and Peep-Show Amusement, an Instruction for the Young (Straiten). This last book is a stout volume of 390 pages, with almost as many illustra- tions. We cannot pretend to have read any considerable portion of its contents, but we have been struck with the very sensible preface. Mr. Strahan is an authority on literature for the young, and has, indeed, by his own exertions achieved quite a beneficial revolution in it. If we may judge from what we have been able to see of the volume before us from the editor's views of his duty, and from the names of his contributors, we should certainly say that it would not be easy to lay out three shillings to more profit than in buying this volume.
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