ADVENTURES AMONG BOOKS.
Adventures among Books. By Andrew Lang. (Longmans and Co. 6s. 6d. net.)—There is no more delightful guide among books than Mr. Andrew Lang. He would be the last person, however, to advise slavish following of any guide, even himself. " Distrust a course of reading !" he says. " People who really care for books read all of them. There is no other course." This is the only answer he will give to those earnest inquirers who come to him for guidance. And experience teaches that he is right. People should read as their fancy takes them. A book that is forced upon the mind does no good and is very soon forgotten. Much follows on this theory, much that wars with the usual idea of education, and that cannot be proved or dis- proved here and now. Mr. Lang's account of his own" adventures among books" is full of teaching and attractiveness. So indeed are all the papers that make up this volume, especially those on Stevenson and Dr. John Brown, on Nathaniel Hawthorne and various subjects of mystery and old romance. It is not necessary to be one of Mr. Lang's own public, to admire everything he writes, from "At the Sign of the Ship" to the "History of Scotland," in order to enjoy these easy and charming essays. He will not mind our saying that they have a touch of Stevenson, sometimes of Matthew Arnold : it is a suggestion which does not interfere with their originality, but only attempts to point out the nature of their charm.
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