CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS.
The Magazine of Art, 1881. (Cassell and Co.)—Nearly fifty full- page illustratious, and four or five times as many of a smaller size, together with a great variety of excellent reading about Art subjects of every kind, make this yearly volume a possession well worth having. Indeed, M. Lalauze's etching, " The Trio," which serves for a frontispiece, of itself gives it no small value. Among the full-page illustrations, we may mention, " Sunset on the Ooster Schelde," after Professor Schipperus ; " The Madness of Hugo van der Goes," after M. Emile %titers ; and " The Old Clarendon Press, Oxford." Some of the smaller pictures are equally, if not more attractive. " The Young Egyptian" is an excellent specimen of engraving, free from any use of illicit effects ; and some of the landscapes, as, e.g.," Fiue Weather" and" The Lake in the Woods," are charming. Among the articles are sketches of the life and works of artists living or re- cently deceased, notices of contemporary art, English and foreign (the reproduction of great works of Continental painters is one the valuable features of the magazine), papers on the history of art, et multa cilia. Two papers by Mr. Hawke on "How Oxford was Built," may be noticed as having a special interest. There are also some interesting and valuable papers on domestic applications of art. —We do not know whether we do right in noticing among " Christmas Books" two volumes of so serious and substantial a kind as Messrs. Cassell give us in European Ferns, by James Britten, and Cassell's Natural History, by P. Martin Duncan, M.B., Vol. V. But we are accustomed to look for books of this kind at this season, for which, indeed, they possess the appropriateness of a handsome ap- pearance. "Foreign Ferns" is adorned with excellent "coloured illustrations from nature," executed by Mr. Blair, besides a number of woodcuts, explanatory of structure, localities, &c. Mr. Britten is known to be a master of his subject, and deals with it as fully and as ably as was to be expected. At the same time, he shows consider- able literary power, and makes his descriptions iuterestiug as well as scientifically accurate. The account of the maiden-hair fern (Adiantum Capillas Veneris) may be noted as an instance of this combination. Men who are fortunate enough to find it, where the ruthless zeal of collectors has not yet exterminated it (Mr. Britten preserves a judicious silence as to the localities which it still haunts), will look at its beautiful growth with increased interest, when they know that it has classical associations, and abounds both at the well of Egeria and at the fountain of Callirrhoe. An introduction supplies the reader with details about the structure and growth of the fern tribe, about the best methods to be followed in its cultivation, both in the open air and under glass, and about its economical uses. To these have been added a paper, for which Mr. Britten expresses his indebtedness to Mr. Carruthers, F.R.S., on "The Geological Distribution of Ferns." —The fifth volume of Cassell's Natural History concludes the subject of vertebrate animals with a description of "Pisces," from the pen of Professor H. G. Seeley. This is followed by the section of the " Invertebrates," the introduction being written by the editor, and the two chapters on " Mollusca " and "Tnnicata" severally by Dr. H. Woodward, and that on " hfolluscoida " by Miss Agnes Crane. To the third section of " Insecta," Mr. W. S. Dallas supplies an introduction, writing also the chapter on "Hymenoptera," while Mr. H. W. Bates contributes the chapter on " Coleoptera." The illus- trations are numerous and good. In the interesting notice of the octo- pus, we see that Dr. Woodward, while rejecting the marvellous stories of the creature sinking ships, quotes a recent account from a Govern. ment diver at Melbourne, which proves how dangerous they sometimes are to swimmers and divers. The octopus in this instance was eight feet across. "I feel convinced," writes Mr. Smart, the diver, "that this fellow could have held down five or six men I had the greatest struggle to get clear of it that I have ever had with any animal under water."—Worthies of the World, edited by H. W. Dulcken, Ph.D. (Ward, Lock, and Co.), is another volume of a serious character and solid value, with which it combines a popular and attractive form. It is "a series of Historical and Critical Sketches of the Lives, Actions, and Characters, of Great and Eminent Men, of All Countries and Times." Its range includes the living as well as the dead. Indeed, we find them in a conjunction that sometimes strikes us as somewhat bizarre, as when Julius Caesar is followed immediately by George Stephenson and John Wesley. The biographies would admit here and there of improvement. Errors that have been long since exposed some- times find a place in them; but they are readable, and on the whole trustworthy.—The Vanity Fair Album. Nineteenth Series, 1881. (" Vanity Fair" Office.)—We have the usual assurance that in these sketches "Fancy plays no part ; they are Facts, faithfully set down." We can only say that it is quite obvious to any one who looks through the book that the artists have two ways of dealing with their subjects. Any defect or peculiarity of figure or face is made pro- minent to exaggeration, till the unfortunate victim sometimes becomes scarcely human in appearance. On the other hand, a handsome, well- proportioned person has justice done to him, and we cannot help think- ing, a shade more than justice, if his opinions are of the "right sort." At the same time, we gladly admit that the volume is a very interest- ing one, as good as any of its predecessors, and that a more suitable object for a drawing-room table could not easily be found. For the mauvais quart d'heure before dinner it is simply invaluable.— Shakesperian Tales in Verse. By Mrs. Valentine. (Warne and Co.)— There is a pretty picture, by way of frontispiece, of Stratford Church and of Shakespeare's house ; there is a title-page, elegantly designed, and fairly well coloured, and there are some passable illustrations ; but more we cannot truthfully say for this book. This is a specimen of the verse in which Mrs. Valentine tells her tales :— " The merchant spike, 119 worthy son,
Fairly the auger thou hast won ; And I have gained another child,
Once fierce, now gentle, sweet, and mild !
To her, in this same happy hoar,
I give a second wedding dower.
Our friends will own, 'tis justly due To him who thus has Tamed a Shrew.' "
And where is Lucio's sly hint, "'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd so ?"—The Major's Big-Talk Stories. By Francis Blake Crofton. (Warne and Co.)—The "Major," a noted hand with the long-bow, tells stories of his adventures to nephews and nieces, just a little touched with the prevailing scepticism of the day. Very amusing things they for the most part are, with their humorous American extravagance. This is a kind of fun of which no specimen can be shown ; the reader must hear the Major himself recount.— Harrison Weir's Pictures of Birds and Animals (Religious Tract Society) give us the characteristic drawing, having in this case the attraction of good colouring, which we expect from Mr. Harrison Weir's pencil.—The Children's Friend (Seeley and Co.) is the quarterly issue of a well-known magazine for very young readers. —The Band of Mercy Advocate (Partridge and Co.) proposes to itself the special object of commending to the same readers gentle- ness and kindness to animals. We wish it all prosperity.— Autumnal Leaves. By Francis George Heath. With Twelve Coloured Plates, &c. (Sampson Low and Co.)—This charmingly illus- trated volume will serve two good purposes,—it will delight many
eyes, as a Christmas book is bound to do, and it will show a great number of readers how much there is of exquisite beauty in the form and colouring of the most familiar English trees, and how much there is to be said about our woods and lanes which is new and strange even to persons of high culture. Indeed, the ignorance of natural objects displayed by men who have had what is called a " learned education " is sometimes portentous. They see everything, to quote Dryden's phrase, " through the spectacles of books," and do not know how to use the ir eyes. Mr. Heath teaches them, in a pleasant fashion, how to do this, and his work will add a new pleasure to autumnal rambles in England. The earlier part of the book consists of an excursion round the New Forest, still one of the loveliest spots on the south coast, in spite of mach spoliation and some painful disfigurement. The art of describing scenery is understood by few writers, and mere description, unless it be written by a master-hand, soon becomes wearisome. It is in Mr. Heath's favour that he loves what he writes about ; but if the reader does not care to follow every step of his course, he will come occasionally upon pas- sages of rather fine-writing, which may be skipped without much loss. The elaborate account of the leaves of autumn deserves to be read with care,"and the exquisite representations of them in colour cannot fail to instruct, as well as to delight. The illustrations are true to the life, and the author states his belief that this is " the first attempt ever made to reproduce in fac-simile—if that expression may be allowed—not merely the exquisite tinting, but the forms and venation of the most prominent and conspicuous of the leaves, whose dying splendour lights up with so much of brilliancy and beauty our autumnal hedges and woodlands." A word of praise must be given, in conclusion, to the wood engravings of New Forest scenery, made by Mr. Frederick G. Short, a young and promising artist. Indeed, the volume does credit to all concerned in its pro- duction.
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