Bellow. ems Class Booxs.—st Manual for Catechising, by the Rev.
W. Frank Shaw (Griffith, Farran, and Co.), makes "stories and illustrations" a prominent feature. Catechising is often a dreary function, and always wants a special gift if it is to be done really well ; but this volume will be a great help. Anyhow, it furnishes matter, and at least suggests manner ; more, no book can do.— In the series of "Bible-Class Primers" (T. and T. Clark, Edin- burgh), we have The Seven Churches of Asia, by the Author of "The Spanish Brothers."—Plowers from the Catholic Kindergarten. By Father Franz Hattler, S.J. Translated by T. J. Livesey. (Burns and Oates.)—The words "Catholic Kindergarten" are used, it must be understood, in a metaphorical sense. They mean the body of (Roman) Catholic children ; and this book, consisting of " stories of the childhood of the Saints," is put together for the instruction and edification of young readers.—One of the most useful auxiliaries or accompaniments of education is supplied by Hymns for Elementary Schools, arranged by Wilhelmina L. Rooper ; the music edited by Duncan Hume (Griffith, Ferran, and Co.) The hymns are well selected, and those which the editor has added from her own pen are not unworthy of their company.—The study of Shakespeare does not seem likely to be neglected. We have three plays in the series edited by Mr. K. Deighton, B.A., and published by Messrs. Macmillan. These three are The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and Othello. Mr. Deighton, who has been appointed, as we gather from a comparison of the title-pages, to an inspectorship of Indian schools, does his work in a sensible and practical way. We are not sure whether the explanations about stage action would not be more profitably exhibited along with the text. We recognise the advantage of putting the notes in general at the end of the volume ; but it is possible that this should be an exception.— Shakespeare' s Cymbeline. Edited, with Notes, by C. M. Ingleby, LL.D. Revised and adapted for the use of Schools by Holcome Ingleby, MA. (Trabner.)—Dr. Ingleby's introduction, with its complete account of the sources from which Shakespeare derived the play, is particularly interesting. The debt to Boccaccio is well known, but Shakespeare seems to have had obligations to other authors. The notes are here at the bottom of the pages. The merits of this, as compared with the othor arrangement, are sufficiently well expressed when the editor says that, though "possibly at a dis- advantage as a class-book, [it] is (what it is intondod to be) a student's and scholar's edition."—In the Falcon Edition of Plays of Shakespeare (Rivingtons), we have two volumes,— Much Ado about Nothing, edited by A. Wilson Verity, MA.; and Henry IV., Part II., edited by A. D. lanes, B.A. Both may be commended, especially for the way in which Shake- speare is illustrated from his contemporaries, (U., and for the convenient glossaries with which they are furnished.— Of other English classics, we have Milton's Samson Agonistes, with Introduction and Notes by H. M. Percival (Macmillan) ; and the same, similarly furnished by C. S. Jerram, M.A. (Rivington and Co.)—Mr. PercivaYs is the fuller edition of the two, and his comments on the difference, and resemblance, between Milton and the great Athenian dramatists are particularly valuable. But there is much good work in Mr. Jerram's. He has something interesting to say in his introduction about the licensing of Milton's post-Restoration poems. It seems to us likely that the Samson was written immediately after the downfall of the Common- wealth, though not published for ten years. It would hardly have passed the censorship at the earlier time.—Two other text- books of Milton's poems have to be noticed, L'Allegro, It Ptmseroso, Arcades, Lyciclas, 4-c., and Comus, both edited by William Bell, M.A., and published by Messrs. Macmillan. The notes, so far as
we have examined them, seem useful and appropriate. Semetimes we are inclined to differ. Does the word " tangles " in the "tangles of Nesera's hair," really mean "locks or curls " ? This sense is not borne out by the, passage quoted from Peale, "[She] brings my
longings tangled in her hair."—Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel, i.-iii. (Macmillan and Co.), has been edited by Mr. G. H. Stuart, M.A.
—The conception of geography is nowadays so much enlarged
that it becomes necessary to treat its various divisions in separate works. A Class-Book of Geography, Physical, Political, and Com- mercial, by William Balfour Irvine (Relfe Brothers), seems to us
to aim at too much. We cannot say that any one of the three divisions receives an adequate treatment. The book, however, is
well arranged, and makes a vast amount of information, brought up to date, easily available.--41 Smaller Commercial Geography. By George G. Chisholm. (Longmans.)—This is an excellent
manual of its kind. Each country is discussed in turn, in relation
to its products, trades, exports, and imports. Not only are facts stated, but reasons are given. In short, the pupil is made to
form intelligent conceptions of the subject which he is studying. The arrangement, too, is very good. Some general oonsiderations
concerning commodities are stated ; then follows a list of " Commodities : their Chief Places of Production;" and then the detailed descriptions of the various countries.—Map Praising and Projection. By John Cardwell. (Heywood.)— The author proceeds on the principle, stated in his last chapter explicitly, and implied throughout the book, that "before anything like satisfactory progress can be made in the study of commercial geography, acquaintance must be made with the main facts of physical geography." For one important part of the study he gives here very complete instruc- tions. The scholar who will study this volume carefully will form, and will be able to express, definite and accurate concep- tions of the various countries of the world, with such details as mountain-ranges, rivers, coast-lines, &c.—The Civil Berries Geography, by the late Lancelot M. Dalrymple Spence, completed and edited by Thomas Gray, C.B. (Crosby Lockwood and Son), appears in a "tenth edition, revised and corrected to the present date."—Topics in Geography. By W. F. Nichols, A.M. (D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, U.S.A.)—This volume contains notes for a teacher's lesson to his class. The United States naturally occupy more space than would be allotted to then in a work in- tended for English use. But this is in its way a recommendation. A teacher, anxious to give a special importance to the topic, would find this a convenient handbook.—A somewhat similar book from the same publisher is The Teacher's Manual of Geography, by Jacques W. Redway. It consists of two parts, "Hints to Teachers," and "Modern Facts and Ancient Fancies." The latter is particularly interesting and valu- able. A teacher of physical geography, unless he has kept himself up in his subject with more than usual industry, will find that he is cherishing many "ancient fancies" which it would be well to exchange for "modern facts." One instance will suffice. It is frequently said that to cut through the isthmus of Panama would be to alter the climate of the coast of Europe. It might do so, in a degree, says Mr. Itedway, if the canal were a thousand miles wide and twelve hundred feet deep.-17;e Essay- Writer. By Henry Skipton. (Crosby Lockwood and Son.)—Mr. Skipton attempts two difficult things,—teaching people how to think, and teaching them how to express themselves. The writer of an essay must be able to do both. If a candidate will learn this book by heart, and then has the luck to have one of the subjects of the eighty skeleton essays here supplied, he should do very well. We may say more than this. This book may very well be a great help to any one who starts with a moderate capacity for composition. It is written with a good deal of force, and contains not a few touches of humour.—.A Sketch of the History of Europe, Chiefly International, by Arthur Reed Ropes, M.A. (S.P.C.K.), is an excellent example of suc- cessful compression. Why say "Alexander overthrew the whole forces of Persia in two great battles." It is not easy to distinguish between the importance of Granicus, Issue, and Arbela ; and if the forces of the Eastern Provinces were not present at the Granicus, those of the Western had been detached at Issus and Arbela.—A useful text-book for students of Early English is to be found in the Anglo-Siueon Chronicles, 800-1001 A.D. Edited, with Introduction, Notes, and a Glossary, by J. F. Davis, D.Litt. (Whittaker and Co.)—In the series of "John Heywood's Literary Readers," we have Andersen's Fairy-Tales, with Explanatory Notes, &c., by Alonzo Gardiner. (John Heywood.)—The Public- School Music Course, by Charles E. Whiting (D. C. Heath and Co., Boston, U.S.A.), is in six parts, and is intended for a complete course of musical education.—With this may be mentioned Modern Gymnastic Exercises. Part IL (Advanced). By A. Alexander, F.R.G.S. With a Preface by the Earl of Meath. (George Philip and Son.)—The author is director of the Liverpool Gymnasium. —Kindergarten Games for Baby Classes. By Wilhelmina L. &roper (Griffith, Farran, and Co.) ; and, from the same publishers, Hand-Craft : a Teat-Book of Slojd, by John D. Sutcliffe.—.--- A helpful book for another department of the study of English may be found in A Working Handbook of the Analysis of Sentences. (Blackwood and Sons.)—The subject, which is really one of con- siderable complexity, especially in a language so constructed as ours—a Latin or a Greek sentence is quite another matter—is exhaustively treated.—In "The Parallel Grammar Series," we have An English Grammar, by J. Hall, M.A., and G. A. Sonnen- schein, M.A. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co.)—This is the first volume, and contains the "Accidence," from the pen of Mr. Sonnenschein.
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