23 NOVEMBER 1872, Page 21

Shaving Them ; or, the Adventures of Three Yankees on

the Continent of Europe. Edited by Titus A. Brick. (J. 0. Hotten.)—The three, who are really five, Yankees go through the Continent contending with robbers, robbers civil and violent. There is some fun in it, but the fun is worn threadbare before we get to the end. This is amusing. The editor tells how he became acquainted with the Senator, a prominent person in their party. "I turned a corner and came upon a crowd. They surrounded a tall man. He was an American, and appeared to be insane. First he made gestures like a man hewing or chopping. Then he drew his hand across his throat, then he staggered forward and pre- tended to fall. Then he groaned heavily. After which he raised him-

self up and looked at the crowd with an air of mild inquiry He was anxious to see the French mode of killing cattle, and was trying to find his way to the abattoirs." But we have more than enough of the Senator, with his gesture-talk, before we get to the end of the volume. The achievements of the friends in their peculiar line are very remark- able, especially in the way of clearing the earth of the violent species of robber. The way in which they hit the robbers with their revolvers, every chamber telling, and the way in which the robbers missed them is perfectly amazing. The Italian Government could not do better than to engage these gentlemen at a very high salary to go about the country, Theseus-like, and rid it of its brigands.