CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS AND NEW-YEAR'S BOOKS.
The Mediterranean. (Nelson and Sous.) This is a bold, yet not un- successful attempt to treat of the principal places of interest on the shores of the Mediterranean and of their inhabitants. When it is con- sidered that Rome, Naples, and Athens must be inoluded in such a work, we may fairly express doubts as to tlao possibility of adequately Accomplishing snob an object in one volume. The compiler, how. ever—for such a work must necessarily be more or less a compilation, —has done considerable justice to his subject. It is true, he has laid the colour broadly on his canvas, without ntuch attention to detail or refinement of expression, yet from it we can got a faint idea of the lovely cities and various peoples with whicli the Mediterranean is FIS140- ciated, and a dint outline of the fact that they have had an important history. Even Rome has fared better than would be supposed, and the sketches and letterpress give by no means an incomplete picture of the old Western capital of civilisation. The views are, on the whole, accu- rate and fairly done, nor is there any stint of them. The literary style is a little too stiff for our taste ; there is too much of the old-fashioned scholastic-historical style, and too little of a traveller's chatty inform a- tion.—The Bird World ; Described with Pen and Pencil. By W H. Davenport Adams and H. Giacomelli. (Nelson.) Mr. Adams hag written the descriptions which accompany M. Giacomelli's designs, and seems to have accomplished his part of the joint work with dili- gence and success. He takes a wide range, introducing his readers to the birds of every country, and while indebted to ether writers and observers for the greater part of his matter, he has managed to combine his gatherings into an offectiVe and harmonious whole. Poets, naturalists, and physiologists have been alike consulted, and the result is a really satisfactory sketch of the whole subject. The designs, which number considerably more then a hundred, many of them being full-page illustrations, are excellent.--The Instructive Picture-Book : Sketches from Nature, or Pictures of Aniinal and Vega- table Life in All Lands (Stanford), has reached a second edition. Dr. Hermann Wagner, who has furnished the letter-press for the pictures, thus describes the plan of the book in his preface :—" The first plate begins with the region of the North Polo, the natural character of 'which is tolerably similar in all the three divisions of the earth .extending thither ; then follow landscapes from Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia, always proceeding in the direction from earth to south. Wilms it seemed possible to the artist, he hCIS depioted the various creatures in seenes accordant With their lives in a state of freedom, either seeking their food, nursing their youngt fighting with those of their own species, at other times under the influence of particular circumstances, and persecuted or protected by man." The illustrittions are good, and the appropriate surround- ings with which they are furnished, much increase their value. From the same publisher we have also, in a "tenth edition," The Instructive Picture-Book ; or, a Few Attractive Lessons on the Natural History of Ani- mals, by Adam White ; and Recreative Instruction, being Pictorial L68. sects WI Form, Comparison, and Nu/nil:or, for Children cinder Ten Years of Age, with explanations by Nicolas Bolany.—We have before us the first volume of a projected series which is likely to be of great value, Cassell's Natwral History, edited by P. Martin Duncan, M.B. (Cassell and Co.) The contributions to this volume are." Apes and Monkeys," by the editor ; "Lemurs," by the editor, in conjunction with Dr. Murie ; " Chiropterrt" and " Insectivore," both by W. S. Dallas, F.L.S. The monkey tribe, including the " man-shaped apes," occupy more than half of the space, and indeed have no more than they deserve. The chapters which treat of the various species of the great apes, the chimpanzee, the gorilla, the orang-utan, and other less-known varieties, such as are the koolo-kamba, the soko, and the nsehiego mbouv6, are profoundly interesting. These "peer relations," as' Rogers used to call thorn, show traits of kin smanship of which it is difficult to say whether they amuse or disgust us most. Professor Duncan has studied their habits very diligently, and his ethnology of these pseudo-human races has a fascination about it which no reader can resist. Perhaps the happiest story of all that ho has collected he has reserved for the last,—it comes from Sir John Lubbock. Monkeys differ, it seems, like men, on the subject of poly- gamy :—" An intelligent Kandyan chief, of course a polygamist, was perfectly scandalised at the utter barbarism of living with only one wife, and never parting until separated by death. It was,' he said, just like the Wancleroo monkey.'" The book is furnished with excellent illustrations. Readers, in their lighter moments, may amuse themselves with finding resemblances to their friends. The aristocratic look of the "long-nosed monkey," on p. 89,is especiallyadmirabl 0.-- A Book about Travelling, Past and PI-esent. Compiled and edited by Thomas Creel. (Nirnmo.) This is a volume of a pleasant, enter.- taming kind, containing information which it must have cost much labour to collect. Mr. Creel deals in summesion with the "Sedan Chair," the " Coach," the "Stage Coach," the "Canal," the "Steamer," and the "Railway." Not a few readers will be sur- prised to hear that travelling in the days of the Roman. Empire was about as rapid as it was in the days, at least the early days, of George III. One Cesarius, under the Emperor Theodosius, jeurnoyed from Antioch to Constantinople, a distance of 605 miles, in lose than six days, whereas in 1762 it took the Express coach about three days and a quarter to travel from Edinburgh to London ; and this was an improvement on the pace achieved five years before, when nearly four days were consumed on the road from London to Edinburgh, and more than five on the return journey. In 1825 the journey was performed in forty-five hours, and before stage-coaches ceased to be, their speed was still further increased. The time is now nine hours. Here, by the way, we may notice one of the very few errors that we have seen in Mr. Creel's work. What should be the amended reading of the following pas- sage ?—" The Midland conveys its passengers to Leicester, 97 miles, in one hour and 37f minutes, the pace being 44i 'miles." If the figures are correct, the pace would be 60 miles. In the enumer- ation of fast trains, if speed be indeed a merit, justice should ho done to the Groat Northern, of which Mr. Creel makes no mention. Many of its trains travel at a rate of fifty miles an hour, and that for long dis- tances.--The Captain's Cabin. By Edward Jenkins, M.P. (William Mullen.) We are not among the critics who have blamed Mr. Jenkins for writing with a purpose, nor do we feel disposed to find fault with him if he writes without one. We shall say only this by way of censure, that he seems to have a strange idea of a "Christmas yarn." An Irish law official, divorced from his wife by the force of false evidence, seeks to got out of the world by crossing to America, and lo I his late wife occupies the next cabiu. Another passenger in the ship is the suborned witness whose evidence condemned him. This person has also added robbery and murder to his crimes, and being detected, finishes his career by suicide. That Mr. Jenkins is effectively humorous, pathetic, and satirical, as tho circumstances may demand, all readers who are acquainted with his books will readily believe. Mr. Coreoran, the divorced husband in this story, is ex- cellent, as good as anything that Charles Lever over drew ; but we must repeat, this is not our idea of a Christmas book. We have yet another fault to find. Mr. Jenkins is far too realistic in his descrip- tions of sea-sickness. Sonic of his expressions would raise a roar of laughter in a music-hall, and what could be a more emphatic con- demnation than this ?—.My Boyhood : a Story-book for Boys. By R. C. Barkley. , (Murray.) This is about as good a book of it kind as we have ever seen. Mr. Barkley for the most part writes about dogs, though he turns aside from time to time to describe other elements of country life. And his dogs are creatures that he at once makes us wish to know. His two terriers, Wasp and Pepper, now, alas! hi the natural course of things, departed to the "Dixie's land" of dogs, are perfectly delightful creatures. If any one wants to see " Landseer picture" in words, let him turn to page 16, and road the account of the tam terriers' different behaviour at a rat-hole. Many picturesque and vigorous little scenes of sport, with not a few shrewd words of advice to fathers who have sons to bring up, and now and thou a sensible remark on such burning questions as the Game Laws, make up the contents of a very charming little volume. —The Boys of Wes?onlesry ; or, the Monitorial System, by the Rev. H. C. Adams, (Routledge.) Mr. Adams thinks that the question of whether the monitorial system is good or evil should be "decisively and finally determined," and writes this book, wo may presume, with a view of contributing to this end. Of course the book does nothing of the kind ; we have read it indeed with much pleasure and interest, for Mr. Adams knows his business too well to stick too closely to his text. He gives us a fair and for the most part unexaggerated description of school life. We do not feel con- scious that everything said or done is to be turned to one fixed end, but one can enjoy the fun and frolic of the moment. But we do not feel more able to come to a decision about the monitorial system than we were before opening the -volume. After all, what Mr. Adams has to say comes to this :—' If you get good monitors, all will be well ; if you get bad ones, all will be ill? We do, however, get two practical suggestions which, if inadequate, are yet in the right direction. No monitor should give a thrashing without the consent el the whole body of monitors, and never in a case where he is himself aggrieved ; and every thrashing must be reported to the head master, or master of the house. Of course, it is taken for granted that the monitors are the head boys of the school. The preposterous system of making rulers of those who are not chiefs themselves could not have grown up elsewhere than under the rule of a great civic corporation.
My Rantbles in the New World. By Lucien Bleat. Translated by Mary de Hauteville. (Sampson Low and Co.) M. Biart visits Greenland and makes acquaintance with the Esquimaux, and especially with one Mrs. A.blonk-Kanik or °mange (" Ouanga'i is Esqulmaux for " I " or "me," and was caught from the young woman's account of herself) ; afterwards goes to Canada, where, among other adventures, his search after the Lotria Enucieator, a very desirable bird, leads him to play the part of a good providence in the love-affairs of a certain Canadian young lady. Afterwards he makes his way to San Francisco, to the West Indies, the Havannas, New Orleans, Mexico, and other places on the Northern continent. He is always sprightly and amusing. Part of the book, at least, unless we are mistaken, we have seen before; but as it is not a mere narrative of adventure, bat has distinct literary merits, it will bear being read more than once--Sic Hundred Crusoes ; or, the Voyage of the Golden Fleece,' by Gilbert Mortimer (Sampson Low and Co.), is a true story of a shipwreck and escape, a genuine narrative of facts, the author assures us, though the names of some of the actors have been changed. The Golden Fleece' struck on the " Rancador," a great reef, which lies between the Isthmus of Panama, Cuba, and the Mosquito coast, at a distance of about four hundred miles from each. The passengers and crew wore landed on a email portion of the reef, which stands Permanently above water. Here, not without some effort, a small commonwealth was established. The story of how this was done is very well told, and makes ,a most interesting narrative. Altogether, we have here a history which should hereafter have a place in all records of "famous shipwrooks."—We may here mention two books of Mr. W. H. G. Kingston, Mark Seaworth ; a Tale of the Indian Ocean, and Fred Markham in Russia, or the Boy Travellers in the Land of the Czar. (Griffith and Ferran.) The former has reached its sixth, the latter its third thousand, and both will doubtless continue to find readers.—The Story of a Wooden Horse, with nineteen illus- trations by Emile Bayard (Routledge), is apparently a translation from the French. To judge from the illustrations which portray fashions that are certainly not of the present day, the book is a re- vival. The "wooden horse" is a wonderful toy, which an old mechani- cian gives to the hero of the story. He shows his self- denial and courage, first by refusing and then by consenting to soli it, for the donor has enjoined upon him not to part with it, except for the means of doing some great benefit to another. Of course, there is a very selfish young gentleman to act as foil to the hero's virtues. The book altogether is fairly interesting ; of the illustrations, some are pleasing, some, to English eyes at least, seem very unpleasing caricatures.--Ton of Them; or, the Children of Dostchurst, by Mrs. R. M. Bray (Griffith and Ferran), is the story of how certain children (one of the numerous families which ladies are so fond of writing about), amuse themselves and distract their friends during the Christmas holidays. One of their proceedings is to catch the mumps, and this gives occasion to the author to introduce a fairy-story, "The Quarrel between the Green Faries and the Water-Spirits," which is, perhaps, the beat thing in the book.—.Ltitae Mercy ; ot,for Better, for Worse, by Maude Joanne Franc (Sampson Low and Co.), is aAtory of which the scene is laid in Australia, though there is nothing specially characteristic about it. Its purpose is to advoeato abstin- ence. Mercy, the heroine, bestows her heert imprudently on a man who is not sober, and goes through terrible trials in consequence. Those books aro never very pleasant reading, and we can only hope that they may be useful.. It is only fair to say that Little Mercy is as good of its kind as any the reader is likely to meet with.—We wel- come the reappearance of every old friend, Leila on the Island, and Leila in England and at Home, by Ann Frteser-Tytler (Routledge), a simple, some, perhaps, would say old-fashioned story, which we, nevertheless, - venture to recommend to our readors.—We have to acknowledge the annual issue for 1877 of two excellent magazines, published by the Religious Tract Society, The Leisure Hour and The Sunday at Home. Each contains more than eight hundred pages, of the largest. octavo size, of varied reading, often useful, often entertaining, and always wholesome, at the publishing price (which, in view of a really extraordinary cheapness, we may for once state) of eight shillings and sixpence. To these, again, we find a formidable rival in Cassell's Family Magazine (Cassell and Co.), also a valuable publication, not containing, perhaps, so much reading as the two that have bean mentioned above, but possessing a more distinctly literary character. —Peter Parley's Annual for 1878 (B. George) has reached, we learn from the title-page, its "thirty-seventh year of publication."— The History of the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi. By j. Talboys Wheeler. (Longman's.) Mr. Wheeler's book is one which deserves to take its place among standard works. There are events which require monographs, if they are to be duly recorded, and the great gathering of princes, at which the Queen of Great Britain was pro- claimed " Kaisar-i-Hind" may fairly be reckoned among them.. Such a monograph Mr. Talboys Wheeler here supplies. He give us a narrative of the Assemblage, reports the formal orations of the Viceroy, and describes the demeanour and belongings of the feuda- tories of the Empire, great and small. To aid his pen he calls in the assistance of photography, and though wo cannot but miss the colour. which is so important an element in an Oriental scene, the illustra- tions are fairly satisfactory. These include, besides a remarkably good portrait of the Queen, by way of frontispiece, twelve photographs of eminent personages at the Assemblage, among- them being Lord Lytton, Scindiall, Holkar, and the young. princes, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Gaeksvar of Baroda, and the Maharaja of Mysore. The gentleness of the Nizam is a curious. contrast to the very energetic-looking lad who now bears the title of the "Herdsman." Holkar is a very determined-looking person indeed, who would scarcely have boon so good a friend to us as he is if he had been born a hundred years ago. Another interesting- portrait is that of the I3egum of Bhopal, and another, again, the Khan of Khelett. The four appendices furnish historical and statisti- cal details of the event, an interesting feature being the list of native Princes, their caste, the extent of their dominions, their revenues, Rtc.. —Vanity Fair Album. Ninth Series. (Vanity Fair Office.) Our readers must by this time be so familiar with the merits of "Spy" and "Ape," who contribute the portraits to the "Album," and of " John, junior," who furnishes the letter-press, that it is not necessary to say much of this volume. No very consistent system seems to be followed by the artists ; some of the portraits are caricatures, some are representations of reality. Any one may see this who will con- trast the portraits of Sir Henry Elliot and Mr. Thomas Bayley Potter. We own to preferring the former style. The latter is best suited to those who know the originals. To those who have never seen the personages represented, we may almost say, who are not familiarly- acquainted with their features, some of these representations have no meaning. Among the portraits of this year are the Emperor of Austria, the Prince Imperial, Midhat Pasha, M. Gustave Dortr, Dr.. John Henry Newman, General Ignatieff ; the Chinese Ambassador,. Kuo Sung Tao ; Sir Allen Young, and—Cricket having its representa- tive as well as politics and literature—Mr. W. G. Grace, "the greatest cricketer since the world began." The notices are of unequal length anti value. " Johu, Junior," may be credited with speaking without fear, hardly as speaking without favour, favour being bestowed 011 worldliness rather than worth. We may mention at the same time a second volume of the National Portrait Gallery (Cassell and Co.), the- first having been noticed in these columns some little time ego. Cardi- nal Manning, Rev. Dr. MartMeau, Mr. J. A. Froude, Mr. It. Brown- ing are arnoug the best and most characteristic portraits in the series. —Travels in the Footsteps of Bruce in Algeria and Tanis, by Lieu- tenant-Colonel H. L. Playfair. (C. Kagan Paul.) Colonel Playfair holds the office which Bruce once hold, that of consul-general for England in. Algiers. Ile felt a natural interest in the work of his groat prede- cessor, a man most unjustly depreciated in his own days, and scarcely. now receiving the recognition which his singular merits as a traveller. deserve. No records could be found in the archives of his Consulate, but at Kinnaird, the seat of Lord Thurlow (whose wife is the repre- sentative of Bruce), ho found a valuable collection of memoranda and drawings. Bruce, as readers of his travels will remember, had before his expedition into Abyssinia, explored much of Northern Africa. It is the records of these explorations that Colonel Playfair has studied, and supplemented with his own observations. To go over the ground traversed by Bruce, with such occasional deflections as circumstances might suggest,—to verify the experience of the great travoller,—on every occasion wherever it was possible effacing himself, to bring Bruce's achievements into greater relief, has been the author's plan. This very valuable volume has been the result of these labours, so loyally undertaken and carried out. We can scarcely call this a highly interesting volume of travels, in the sense that recent volumes of travel in other regions of Africa have been highly interesting, but it has a standard value which all genuine students will appreciate. About Roman antiquities in particular it con- tains much information, for Northern Africa was considerably affected by Latin civilisation. The appearance of the volume is handsome and stately, and it is copiously adorned with i]lustrations, many of them fac-similes from Bruce's admirable drawings, some of them taken from photographs executed by the author's fellow-traveller. Colonel Playfair quotes a remarkable testimony from the Brothers d'.&bbadie, who, after a residence of many years in Abyssinia, declared that after a daily use of Bruce's book they had hardly found an error of considerable importance in it. One or two stories which had an unluckily marvellous look exposed the great traveller to the ridicule of an age which was incredulous because it was ignorant. It is curious to find our author vouching for a marvel which quite equals Bruce's tale of the live beef-steak. He saw fish swim apparently quite unconcerned in the pail after they had been cleaned for the table, —but probably the swimming was only the effect, of "reflex action." —The Magic Valley ; or, Patient Antoine, by C. Koary. (Macmillan.) To write a good fairy-tale now-a-days is almost as difficult as for a modern sculptor to produce a work that can be matched with the antique. Miss Reny deserves the greatest praise for having so successfully accomplished her task. The Magic Valley is a quite ,genuine work, unspoilt by modern affectation. We do not feel, as we read, that the author is trying to make us understand that he is using this foolish talk about fays, and gnomes, and so forth as a mere vehicle for the very sage advice that he wishes to give to young people. Miss Keary writes as if she thoroughly believed in dags and faes, and not only believed in them, but had a very intimate acquaintance with their feelings and doings. To spend an hour over this volume is indeed to get away from this wearisome world into a "magic valley" of old-world fancy.—Osr Trip to ,Blunderland, by Jean Sambon, with sixty Illustrations by Charles Doyle (Blackwood), is a book of "nonsense," written in acknowledged imitation of "Alice in Wonderland." It cannot be said to be more than a partial success. Some good things it contains, but most of the fun is constrained and 'obscure. So at least it seems to us, but this kind of book one criticises with hesitation ; not only do judgments differ about them, but they seem different at different times to the same reader. What is bright and gay in one mood seems trivial and foolish in another.- - Among books especially intended for younger children, we find Mother Goose's Nursery Rhymes and Fairy-Tales, with illustrations by Sir John Gilbert, RA,, John Tenniel, Walter Crane, esc. (Rout- ledge), the contents of this volume appearing separately in two al:nailer companions, entitled, Mother Goose's Melodies and Mother Goose's Fairy-Tales, the first adorned with one hundred and fifty, the second with two hundred illustrations. Hero we have things n'bw old, "Cock Robin„" "Humpty-Durepty," and other ballads and .rhymes in which many generations have delighted, appearing in company with the incomparable "nonsense" which it is the gift of "Mr. Lewis Carroll" to write.. "Old Mother Goose" has naturally the first place, but the second is accorded to the "Walrus and the Carpenter," which tells the tragical fate of four young oysters that,— . Harried up,
All eager for the treat ; Their ooats were bruahed, their faces waehed, Their shoes were clean and neat I And thig was odd, because, you know, They hadn't any feet."
Some of the " melodies " have music added to them.—Of the " Fairy- Tales " most are old favourites, but some are new to us. Mother Goose's Jingles, with illustrations by Harrison Weir, has also to be mentioned as coming from the same publishers. The Holiday Album for Children, with 192 page-pictures by .7. E. Millais, J. D. Watson, Sir John Gilbert, lec. (Routledge), consists of short stories and sketches of a page, each illustrated by its appropriate picture. These will be a great treasure for the exhausted brains of fathers and mothers who have to supply the endless demand for "another story." The contents of this volume are found again appropriately .divided in Routtedge's Holiday Album for Girls, by Mrs. Sale Barker, and Routledge's Holiday Album for Boys, by Henry Frith.— We have also to mention Lily's Drawing-Room Book, by Mrs. Sale Barker. (Routledge.) This contains three stories which have, if our memory serves us right in this perplexing multitude of "Christmas Books," been published before,—" Lily's Homo in the Country," " Lily's Sorrow," and "Lily's Visit to Grand mamma." The volume has three hundred and sixty pictures.—Pot's Posey of Pictures and ..tories (Cassell and Co.) deserves a Word of special praise for the excellence of its illustrations, which would' well become a much more pretentious volume. We may mention" The Water-wheel" as one of many very pretty pictures.—The children will find plenty to amuse and please in Little Blue-Bell's Picture-Book (Itoutledge), with its "more than four hundred illustrations;" and its humble companion, Little Forget-me-Noes Picture-Book (Routledge), with its "hundred illustrations."--Of periodical volumes containing the issue of a year, we have Little Folks : a Magazine for the Yowag (Cassell and Co.); Chatterbon, edited by J. Erskine Clark (W. W. Gardner); Peep-Show : a Pleasure-Book for the Young, with 300 pictures (Stralian) ; Little Wide-Awake : a Story-Book for Little Children, by Mrs. Sale Barker (Routledge) ; The Prize for Girls and Boys (W W. Gardner), and from the same publisher, Swnday Reading for the Young, and Early Days (Wesleyan Conference Office) ; Little Curly-Pate's Picture-Book, by Mrs. Sale Barker (Routledge), is reprinted, we learn from the title-page, from "Little Wide-Awake."
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