CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS.
Picturesque Palestine, Sinai and Egypt. Edited by Colonel Wilson, R.E. Vol. I. (Virtue and Co.)—It should be sufficient to say that this very handsome volume is well worthy of its subject. It is well printed, copiously illustrated, and the illustrations are uni- formly excellent. Beside the vignettes, there are nine full-page steel engravings; the rest, about one hundred and fifty in number, some of them of the largest size, are from engravings on wood. These latter are, for the most part, remarkably effective. Of this first volume, the greater part is occupied with Jerusalem. The traveller is then taken eastward. Here we should especially note the series of illustrations which picture the Convent of Mar Saba. This place, so remarkable for its situation and its history, is given in some very striking drawings. We should also note the interesting illustrations of Eastern life which are scattered throughout the volume, nor should the descriptive letterpress be passed over without its due praise. Indian Summer ; Autumn Poems, and Sketches. By L. Clarkson. (Griffith and Farran.)—Here we have a col- lection of verses taken, Mr. Clarkson tolls us, from the works of American poets ; and coloured illustrations, in which Mr. Clarkson's own pencil has sought to set forth some of the autumnal glories of Maryland woods. These latter seem to us of unequal merit. Some of the combinations of colour seem to us not very happily chosen, and the reproducing process has not always worked very happily. On the other hand, most of the drawing is graceful, and the general effect is pleasing. A atumn colours are, of course, best seen in mass, while the hues of spring and summer will bear the closest inspection. This, of course, must be allowed for in estimating Mr. Clarkson's work. An English writer, too, who has not had the fortune of seeing Maryland woods must speak under reserve. Of the poems, which number among their authors the distinguished names of Longfellow, Bryant, J. G. Whittier, and others, it is not necessary to say anything more than that they have been well chosen.—The Cruise of the 4 Walnut-Shell,' written and illustrated by Andre (Sampson Low and Co.) is an effort of fancy, the extravagance of which the author ingeniously excuses by telling his young readers that it is a dream. Elsie and Arthur, amusing themselves by day with sailing walnut- shells, dream at night of a voyage which shows them to have a credit- able knowledge, their tender youth being considered, of commercial and other geography. A fairy-walnut shell takes them over all the earth. Their joarneyiugs are illustrated by attractive pictures, and are de- scribed in verse which is, perhaps, a little above the average of such work. This is a book which ought to give entertainment, not with- out a little gently insinuated instruction, to quite young people.—Old Proverbs with New Pictures. By Lizzie Lawson and C. L. Bateaux. (Cassell and Co.)—We have some good rhymes (contributed by C. L. Bateaux), and drawings nicely drawn and prettily coloured. The proverbs furnish texts to little, versified discourses or stories, and these are adorned with pictures. It is almost a matter of course, now, to find such pictures good in design; the tone, and the way in which this tone is mechanically reproduced, are not always so good as we find them in this volume.—Holly Berries. With original Illustrations. By Ida Waugh. (Griffith and Farran.)—Here we have verses "written down," perhaps, a little too much to suit young readers. Young readers often resist the condescension. In the illustrations the colours are sometimes a little too gay, the drawhig generally pleasing ; but why is the boat in which "Nat " is sailing (p. 37) of so vast a height ? The sea looks to be at least a hundred feet below. —At Home, illustrated by S. G. Sowerby, decorated by Thomas Crane (Marcus Ward and Co.), is a particularly pretty little book ; the " decorations " are really worthy of the name, showing much good-taste, and withal a freshness and novelty which are much
to the credit of the designer. "Grandmother Nan," on p. 31, where a little girl has made herself up into a very real- looking old woman, and is rocking her doll's cradle, is excellent.
—In a different style is Little Loving-heart's Poem-book. By Mar- garet Elenora Tupper. (Griffith and Farran.)—The illustrations are pleasing and effective, though they do not employ the attraction of colour. Naturally, they vary in merit. "The Little Birds go to Sleep at Night," " Nelly going into the Ball-room," (but why have all the children " tip-tilted " noses ?) are noticeably good ; and so in a different way is "The Land of the II nknown," which reminds one of M. Gustave Dore. The verse description of this last picture is particularly good. All Miss Tupper's work is, indeed, above the average of merit.—Dreams, Dances, and Disappointments. By Gertrude A. Koustan and Ella and Nella Casella. (De la Rae and Co.)—Here three young ladies have told the story of a flirtation, in pictures that have considerable merit, and rhymes that may pass muster. But for what readers is it meant ? Little girls ought not to be set thinking of such things.----The Mole and the Bat (G. Waterston and Sons) offers the triple attraction of verses, pictures, and music.—Eva's Mulberry Tree, with numerous Illustrations, by E. L. Seeley (Seeley's), with its quaint and pretty pictures, and its story of the tree which little Eva planted in the days of King Edward VI., and which sees in its old age the birth-day of another little Eva kept on the wedding day of Queen Charlotte, is a very attractive little book, and certainly above the level of its fellows. Children who have conned the verses and admired the pictures will have something to think of afterwards.—The Children's Picture Annual, edited by Merrie Sunshine (Ward, Lock, and Co.), tells "stories of pets," the pets including a great variety of animals, among which the panther is, perhaps, the most uncommon. The experiment of the panther was, it seems, not encouraging, and we should not recommend our young friends to make a purchase at Mr. Jamrach's. Bat they may read some amusing things about other and less hazardous pets.— Happy Little People, by Olive Patch (Cassell and Co.), describes, with appropriate illustrations, how some young people amuse themselves at the sea-side and in the country, making the best of all the delights both of summer and winter.—The Hero of a Hundred Fights. By Sarah Tytler. (William Isbister.)—The people whom Miss Tytler describes in this book are all recognisable as possible beings, even if we are compelled to think that the incident in which the interest of the story culminates, Christopher Rather. ley's sudden leap into fame, after twenty years of failure as an artist, is of the romantic kind. But there is no need to criticise such things too closely. We have here a story, true in its main features, of the marvels that a faithful love can work.—In Times of Peril, by G. A. Henty (Griffith and Farran), is a story, and a very well-told story, too, of the Indian Mutiny. Mr. Henty knows his subject well, and so contrives his narrative that his readers may get a clear notion, if they will, of the 'great crisis which he describes. The veritable heroes of those days, Havelock and Clyde and Outram and the rest, receive their meed of honour ; and the fictitious personages whom the writer introduces to fill up his canvas are drawn with taste and skill. This is as good a book of the kind as we have lately seen. —Young Marmaduke, by W. H. Davenport Adams (Marcus Ward and Co.), takes ns back to the French Revolution during the days of the Reign of Terror. What could have inspired Mr. Adams to say in his preface that his book "for the first time puts before young readers, in an attractive form, a view of the principal phases of an historical age of more than ordi- nary interest" ? Did he ever hear of a certain Charles Dickens, and of a certain " Tale of Two Cities," not, perhaps, one of that obscure writer's best, but still possibly attractive ? Mr. Adams's story is well enough, though the story is not the best part of the book. That, in fact, would have been better, in a literary point of view, without the "attractive form." Mr. Adams has taken some pains with his sub- ject, and will teach his young readers, if they will only read him carefully, something worth knowing,—notably, for instance, this, that all the leaders of the Revelation are not to be con- founded together, that Danton and Camille-Desmouliu were very different from Robespierre and St. Jest. The descriptions of these personages are very good.—The Sword of De Bardwell, by C. M. Katherine Phipps (Shaw and Co.), is "a tale of Agincourt." We cannot praise the style of the dialogue, which is stilted and con- strained ; but doubtless the tale will interest some readers.— Waitaruna : a Story of New Zealand Life, by Alexander Bathgate (Sampson Low and Co.), is a story which seeks, we fancy, to set before its readers New Zealand life as it really is. The rips and downs which meet a young fellow who goes out to seek his fortune are well described. There are no startling coincidences or vicissi- tudes. Steadiness makes its way to moderate prosperity ; folly and frivolity meet with the reward which awaits them, as surely in the colonies as in the old country. Nothing about New Zealand is flattered. Even of the climate one hears the candid opinion, which we have cer- tainly long held about England, that the country "wants roofing-in badly." And the dismal episode, so sadly common in life there, of death by drowning, is duly introduced. Still, the impression is felt that there might be worse places than the islands for a young man to try, now that the ways here are so overthronged.—The Lyon's Den, by Totty Osborn (Shaw and Co.), describes how an aunt, coming to take charge of a motherless family of five boys and three girls, children of a hard- worked parson, introduces, by dint of unwearied patience and love, order where there bad been chaos, and a spirit of mutual help where the rule had been "every one for himself."--We Four, by Mrs. Reginald Bray (Griffith and Ferran), purports to be the confession of past mischief and naughtiness made by a girl who has been the ringleader in all sorts of pranks, among a family of four sisters. The confession is not without a spice of enjoyment in the recollection, and we can only hope that the children- who may read it will look as much, more we cannot hope, to the moral as to the entertaining narrative of the misdeeds for which the young heroine professes her repentance. However this may be, the book meanwhile is decidedly amusing, and keeps up Mrs. Bray's character as a skilful provider of this kind of reading.—Margaret the Moon- beam. By Cecilia Lushington. (Griffith and Farran.)—Here we have a somewhat sentimental story of a young lady, who is, we fear, much too good to be set up for a model before ordinary human beings. Miss Lushington should quote Mr. Tennyson rightly. It is not marriage, but woman, that ie compared to "perfect music unto noble words."—A Boy's Ideal, by Frances E. Cooke (W. Swan Sonnensehein and Allen), is the story of the life of Sir Thomas Moore, and for that reason alone worth reading.—Mother Herring's Chicken. By L. T. Meade. (Isbister.)—Here we have one of those stories of the poor . which Miss Meade tells with so mach knowledge of her subject, and with so much effect. The faithful love of "Mother Herring" for her unworthy husband, a love which does not fail to win its best reward, is finely described ; while old Jabis, mad with a madness which is better than much sober sense—the absolute faith in a heavenly visitant, who sits by his poor fireside—is a sketch quite above the average of this kind of story.—It will be a sufficient description of The Shadow on the Home to say that it is a temperance story. We can only hope that it may do the good which the author contemplates.—The Three
Frights, by Sarah Tytler (Marshall Sapp and Co.), are well-told little stories, which may be safely recommended to the young readers for whom they are intended .—Of new editions, we have Hurricane Hurry, Salt Water, and Peter the Whaler, all by W. H. G. Kingston, and published by Messrs. Griffith and Ferran. From the same writer we have also The Two Voyages, published by the Religions Tract Society.—Out on the Pampas and The Cornet of Horse, by G. A. Henty, are published by Messrs. Griffith and Farran.—We have also received The Trumpet-Major, by Thomas Hardy, and Mary Marston and The Vicar's Daughter, by Dr. G. Macdonald. (Sampson Low and Co.)—The Story of a Ship, from her Cradle to her Grave (Rontledge), is a new edition, carried down to the present time by a " Short Account of Modern Steamships and Torpedoes."
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