\ CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS AND i:E1V YEAR'S BOOKS.
We take the earliest opportunity of mentioning, while reserving for a future time a longer notice, Raphael, his Life, Works, and Times. From the French of Eugene Mentz. Edited by Walter Armstrong, B.A. (Chapman and Hall.)—This very handsome volume is furnished with nearly two hundred illustrations (forty- three being of the full-page size).—The Tyne and its Tributaries. Described and illustrated by W. J. Palmer. (George Bell and Sons.) —Under the name of " Tyne," Mr. Palmer of course includes the two streams the North and South Tyne, which meet near Hexham. He makes a start from the source of each of these two, descends them, and then follows the course of the united river till it makes its way into the sea. This journey takes him through very various scenes. In the upper course of the river in its two branches, Nature is to be seen under as wild a form as anywhere in England, while the lower passes through some of the busiest industries of the country. All this is crowded into a small space, the distance, as the crow flies, between North Tyne Head and Tynemouth being not more than forty miles. Add to this that the whole region is rich in history and legend, and striking in scenery, and we have copious materials for a book such as Mr. Palmer has given us. Very well he has done his work. Legends of the wild days of the Border-lands (e.g., the story of how the Robsons hanged seven Grahams, because sheep which the Robsons had carried off were found to be scabby), descriptions of tarns and waterfalls, and all the beauties of a wild hill-country, and details of the great manufacturing industries of Newcastle, are combined into a very entertaining volume. The illustrations, too, are copious and excellent.—From Eye to Heart. (Haufstaengl, Munich ; Chapman and Hall, London.)—In this "Banquet of Art and Poetry," as it is called, we have sixteen photographs from the works of German painters of the day—and very good photographs they are—with appropriate extracts from English poets,—" Elacidations," as they are somewhat oddly called. The book seems to have been printed in Germany, and does credit to the typography of that country, though errors have not been wholly escaped, e.g., "Lady glossip's ball."—A Day in a Child's Life. Illustrated by Kato Greenaway. Music by Myles B. Foster. (Routledge and Sons.)—Here a child may learn how to get up, learn its lessons, enjoy its romp, say its prayers, and go to bed again to music. All this is very nicely done, and the pictures are as quaint and pretty and as delicately coloured as we expect Miss Greenaway's work to be.—Stories about Dogs. By Mrs. Surr. With Illustrations by Harrison Weir. (Nelson and Sons.)—Mrs. Surr tells us a number of stories about our humble friends, some of them new and particu- larly interesting. The dog who brought a lump of coal in his mouth when he saw that his master's fire was getting low, certainly deserves his place in any history of his kind. The only thing that we feel inclined to have otherwise in the book relates to the morals. Mrs. Surr should have left her young readers to draw them for themselves.—Grandpa's Verses and Pictures ; or, Natural History in Play. By "T. P. M." With Illustrations by R. H. Moore. (Griffith and Ferran )—We do not see much "natural history" (for this surely must mean some kind of exact description) in this volume. The illustrations, however, are good. The verses might with advantage have been better. When will writers of this kind of thing learn that children resent a feeble or halting verse quite as much as do their elders.---Joyee Morrell's Harvest; or, the Annals of Selwick Hall. By Emily Sarah Holt. (Shaw and Co.)—Here Miss Holt seeks to reproduce the life and manners of the days of Queen Elizabeth. The book is a diary. written by the daughter of a Cumberland knight, though the chief character is one Joyce Morrell, the young ladies' aunt, whose kindly wit and wisdom give the story its chief attraction. The time has, it is evident, been studied with some care, and the style, though not worked out with very elaborate care, is sufficiently appropriate. —The Three Trappers : a Story of Adventure in the Wilds of Canada, by Achilles Daunt (Nelson and Sons), takes us back to a time when adventures were much more perilous than they are nowa- days in Canada. One of the company of three who start on their journey to the base of the Rocky Mountains meets with his death, very soon after the beginning of the expedition, from the bullet of a Blackfoot. His place is supplied by a trapper of the old sort, the man to whom the life of an Indian was no more to be regarded than the life of a racoon. Mr. Daunt has made an exciting narrative out of the adventures of the little company, and this without going beyond the bounds of probability, or even of authority.—The Early Start in Life. By Leslie Marryat Norris. (Griffith and Farran.)—This is a story of New Zealand, drawn, we should say, from the life ; and a very good story it is,—genuine, without any foolish sentimentality, and free from those tedious efforts to make fun which sometimes makes this kind of literature so depressing. It was a bold thing for Alexander Stirling, aged twenty. eight, to emigrate to New Zealand, with his sister and two brothers ; but Fortuna fortes adjurat, and he makes his way to a prosperity which is sufficient without being extravagant, by a process which looks quite probable.—Jeannie Nairn's Wee Laddie : a Simple Story of the Old Town. By Miss Grant. (Hatchards.)—The "Old Town," it may be necessary to explain, is Inverness. Here Jeannie, a young factory girl, takes charge of the child of a cousin, who has foolishly married a gypsy, and comes back from the hardships of camp-life to die. The boy's childhood and bringing-up make a very pretty picture, and Jeannie's devotion is described with simplicity and pathos. A. still higher level is attained when the lad's great trial is reached, when his gypsy kindred make their way into his neighbourhood, and the vagrant instincts in his blood are stirred into activity. How these instincts are satisfied in a way that brings honour and happiness to him and to his "little mother," is told in a very attractive narrative.—Bryan and Katie. By Annette Lyster. (Griffith and Farmn.)—The hero and heroine are twins, who love each other with that intense affection which twins sometimes feel. Bryan goes to sea with his uncle, a fine old sailor, whose acquaintance we are glad to make, and from whom we are sorry to part, while Katie stays at home to bear her aunt company. The story of the two, with their very diverse trials, how they were separated, and how at last reunited, makes one of the very best written books of the kind that we have seen this season.—The Light of the Home ; or, Mabel's Story, by the Author of "Aunt Hester" (Shaw and Co.), is a story from the other side of the Atlantic. Mabel, who tells the story, is a very spirited young lady, who relates the doings of her schoolfellows, and does it in a very natural way. Without pro- fessing to know much of the natural history of schoolboys in the States, we may say that the characters in this little story have a quite genuine look.—The Moral Pirates and The Cruise of the' Ghost.' By W. L. Alden. (James Clarke and Co.)—Mr. Alden relates the experiences of certain American lads who make expeditions somewhat resembling the " camping out " trips that are so popular along the Thames. Such expeditions, however, on the Hudson and neighbour. ing waters are a serious affair, with much more adventure and even peril than the worst which our voyagers have to fear from steam launches and unprotected weirs. The book should be a decided success among young readers on this side of the Atlantic.—Living Painters of France and England. Fifteen Etchings from Representative Pictures. (Remington and Co.)—This is a pretty album, with letter- press describing the illustrations, and at the same time giving brief accounts of many of the artists whose works have been selected for reproduction. The book has been printed at the Paris press of that excellent periodical L'Art, and is adorned with a multitude of head- pieces, initial letters, and tail-pieces. The English artists represented are Millais, Hell, Macbeth, Phil. Morris, Boughton, Hunter, and Fisher. With these exceptions, the plates have been etched by foreigners. There is a tendency to inky blackness in some of the impressions in this volume, making us believe that the plates used have seen better days. This fault is marked in J. J. Henner's " La Madeleine" and in Phil. Morris's "Sons of the Brave," while it reaches a climax in the black central blot which does duty for a gown in Boughton's " Bearers of the Burden." While we are in a critical mood, we cannot help protesting against the extremely old head which has been put on the extremely young shoulders of the new-born infant in Dnez's picture. That long, oval head, with pointed chin and well-developed nose, belongs to a woman of five- and-thirty summers, not to a baby that has not begun to take notice of the flowers of her first season of roses. Among the best illustra- tions in this volume we may name Millais' " Yeoman of the Guard," Holl's " Leaving Home," and Colin Hunter's " Trawlers Waiting for Darkness." The gathering gloom in this last scene is expressed with subtlety and povi er.—The Story of a Nursery Rhyme. By "C. B." Illustrated by Margaret Hooper. (Field and Tner.)—The dainty quaintness of the external appearance of this little book will pre- possess in its favour those who are haunting book-shops in search of presents for the little ones ; and we think that the children into whose hands it falls will pronounce a favourable verdict upon the letter- press and illustrations,—or, as they will call them, the "reading" and the " pictures." Originality is not aimed at by " C. B.," who is content to be a disciple of the author of the great nursery classic of which Alice is the heroine ; but the story is prettily told, and can hardly fail to please. The four illustrations, by Miss Margaret Hooper, are very pleasant in conception and careful in execution. We have seldom seen anything better of its kind than the flags and bulrushes in the plate facing page six.
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