CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS BOOKS.
Etchings on the Loire and in the South of France, with Descriptive Lettmpress. By Ernest George. (Murray.) Etching seems to grow more and more into favour, both with artists and the public. The for- mer find it a ready and effective instrument of at once communicating and preserving the results of their studies, the latter delight in the free and genuine expression of the artist's mind. These twenty plates, for instance, are the work "of the leisure hours of the last few months," and give an expression at once permanent and accessible to Mr. George's summer studies, in the results of which we are thus enabled to share, so to speak, at first hand. Mr. George's profession is that of an architect, and this determines his subjects. Twelve of the sketches give us choice bits of media3val work from Orleans, Blois, Chenonceaux, Loches, and other towns on the Loire or its tributaries. In the remaining eight we are taken to the South of France, and make acquaintance with Toulouse, Narbonne, Avignon, &c. Mr. George's work is very pleasing and effective, and his skill, though it is chiefly called on to show itself in architectural outline and detail, is quite equal, when occasion demands, to expressing nature. The latter etchings seem to us especially good. The letterpress notices seldom aim at anything beyond giving the necessary explanations. In one thing we may be allowed to correct Mr. George. "It is not," he says, "to our national glory that our English Earl of Leicester, Simon do Montfort, should have been the instrument for crushing the Albigenses." This Simon de Montfort, we are glad to think, was not an Englishman, though there are many—Father Oakeley, for instance—who would doubtless be glad to claim him. "Our English Earl of Leicester" was the second Simon, an Englishman, and an earl in right of his mother, one of the coheiresses of the earldom of Leicester.—The Vanity Fair Album. Sixth Series. (Vanity Fair Office.) We must not, we suppose, find fault with the pen- man and draughtsman of Vanity Fair for being cynical. "It is their nature to." Still the predominance of this quality does something to spoil their work, especially, we think, in the case of the portraits. The letterpress is always amusing, and the sarcasm not too savage. Perhaps the occasional praise which " Jehu Junior" sometimes condescends to give to the favourites whom he capriciously chooses will be a little hard to bear. And once at least, in the case of a certain famous city financier, it has the look of the grossest flattery. The por- traits certainly please one least the better one happens to know the face represented. If one conies across a "pet aversion," it is certainly a satisfaction to see him represented by "Ape," who gene- rally contrives to hit the weak points of a face. How puzzled our descendants some three centuries hence will be, should they have the opportunity of comparing the works of the courtly painters who exhibit on the walls of the Academy and the uncomplimentary sketches of Vanity Fair! —English Lake Scenery. From Original Drawings by T. L. Rowbotham, with archa3ological, &c., Notes by the Rev. W. J. Lottie, B.A. (Marcus Ward.) The drawings are given in six chrome- graphs, somewhat crude, but not unpleasant to behold, nor unsuccessful in rendering the scenes represented, and about as many woodcuts of the ordinary type. "The East Crag," on the road between Derwentwater and Borrowdale, is a favourable specimen of the former. Mr. Lottie's notices are quite readable. He has studied Wordsworth and the Lake poets to some purpose, and quotes them appropriately. We must protest, by the way, against the statement that "were it not for the Lakes scattered over Westmoreland and Cumberland, England would be almost destitute of any district worth visiting solely for its scenery." Of course, a writer about tho Lakes must magnify his office, but Yorkshire, Devonshire, Kent (to mention three only out of several counties full of beauty) might fairly complain of the slight, not to speak of Lancashire, which claims no small share of these same lakes. Picturecgue Scottish Scenery proceeds from the same pencil and pen, and is published by the same house. Only familiar scenes, Linlithgow, Loch Leven, Loch Katrine, Loch Awe, &c., are included. Why will not some one break new ground, and give us the Hebrides and Ross-shire ? —We welcome very heartily a second volume of British Battles on Land and Sea. By James Grant. (Cassell and Co.) The volume includes a period of about eighty years, beginning with Fontenoy, in 1745, and ending with the capture of B13urtpore, in 1826; the first one of the greatest disasters that our arms have ever met, the last one of the most remark- able of our triumphs. It was a singular experiment to put a dashing cavalry officer in command of siege operations, but it was eminently successful. The account of -the great mine which effected the breach in the thick mud ramparts of I3hurtpore is very interesting. But interesting matter abounds in the volume. Besides the great names of Culloden, Plessey, Quebec, Gibraltar, the
Assaye, Trafalgar, Vittoria, Waterloo, &c., there are a host of affairs of minor importance, indeed, but well worthy of the fame which in some instances they have missed. Altogether they form a remarkable record of victories, interspersed with fewer defeats than have befallen even the greatest military nations. We have suffered losses not a few from various causes, notably from incompetency in our Generals, but unless indeed Bannockburn be reckoned as such, we have nothing like Allis or Canna) in our military annals. Plans of many of the chief battles are
given, a feature which adds much to the value of the narrative. Those of the great naval victories of Nelson are peculiarly instructive. The book is one which any reader may enjoy, but it would make a specially good present for a lad who may have to be coaxed into reading the history of his own country. In some happier age to come things may be changed, but at present battles are the most convenient landmarks in history Anyhow, he will hear about some noble deeds and brave men,—some whose names are known to all, and some of whom Mr. Grant's pages will help to save from oblivion, as John Inglis, for instance, captain of the Belliqueux ' in the battle of Camperdown, who, failing to understand the admiral's signals, shut his telescope, aril shouted to his sailing-master, "Hang it, Jock ! doon wi' the helm, and gang richt down into the middle of it."—From the Religious Tract Society we have the two annual volumes of their ex- cellent magazines The Leisure Hour and The Sunday at Home. They also send us two volumes of The Natural-History &rap Book, one of them containing between thirty and forty engravings of animals, the other as many of birds and fish. The illustrations are executed with remarkable spirit, and the letterpress descriptions are interestingand clear.—May's Own Boy, by the Author of "Little Mothers," 6:c. (Seeleys.) A little story carefully adapted to the understandings of children, which M. Friilich has illustrated with some of his characteristic pictures of children. Talking to the Children, by Alex. Macleod, D.D. (Hodder and Stoughton) has reached a sixth edition.—The Children's Pastime Pictures and Stories for the Little Ones, by Lisbeth G. Seguin (Daldy, Isbister, and Co.), is described sufficiently well by its title. The sayings and doings of a number of children, good and bad, the good happily predominating, are recorded by pen and pencil. The book is serious, and not meant for fun. Otherwise, having a proper regard for nonsense, we should not have objected to the statement, "Do you know there was once a little girl who was so jealous of her baby-brother that she turned quite green ? "—We have, we find, omitted to notice in its proper place a capital book of stories—true stories, too, as the author assures us,— Boys. By Lady Barker. (Routledge.)—Twelve boys, or sets of boys, their characters and adventures, wrong-doings and right-doings, are here described, and those who know—and what young, or indeed old, leaders does not know ?—Lady Barker's powers of description, will be sure that they are very pleasant reading. "Louis Roden, my Emigrant Boy," is the first, the longest (it comprises nearly a fourth of the volume), and generally the most important of the tales. Louis goes out to New Zealand, on the invitation of a friend to whom his father had done a great kindness, and arrives to find his friend gone without even leaving a message for him (the poor man had been driven almost mad by the sudden loss of his wife), and himself helpless. However, he faces the situation boldly ; engages himself to a somewhat drunken, but not in- disposed gentleman, struggles on through difficulties of all sorts, and finally emerges into prosperity. It is capital reading all through, the story of Louis's difficulties as a cook being particulary amusing. By the way, are all Lady Barker's stories quite genuine ? We distinctly remember meeting before, in some American book, the prototype of "Daddy Palmer," who frays to Louis,—" Well, you see, Sir, it's very little I can do, but I am willing to do that little ; and Jim, my boy [a grey-headed man of fifty], said I'd do to start the cemetery with in the new country, so I thought I might as well go and give 'em a lift that way." But whether told of America or New Zealand, this is a little too much. "My Soldier Boy" takes us with him to the Crimea ; "My Missionary Boy" to the South Sea Islands, whither he labours in company with Bishop Patteson. Generally, with the exception of My Horrid Boy," who is, we suppose, necessary as a "shocking example," the "boys " are fine, unaffected young fellows, and the present generation of the species will get pleasure and profit from reading about them.—We have to mention The Peep-Show, with 250 pictures (Strehan), Peter Parley's Annual (Ben. George), and a set of pretty little volumes, "The Rose Library" (Sampson Low and Co.), which is to contain "popular literature of all countries." Of these, we have before us Little Women and An Old-Fashioned Girl, by Louisa M. Alcett ; A House on Wheels, or Far from Home, by Madame de Stolz ; and The Minister of the Manse, by J. G. Holland.--We have also received a new edition of an entertaining story, A Very Young Couple, by the Author of "Mrs. Jerningham's Journal," &c. (Marcus Ward.) We cannot say that the illustrations add much to the book's value. In "Those eyes met mine in the glass," either the mirror was anything but flattering, or the young husband had a countenance which justified almost any suspicions.—To readers that want sport and earnest mingled with excellent skill, we may recommend the new edition of Eight Years in Ceylon, by Sir Samuel W. Baker (Longmans), and The Rifle and the Hound, by the same author, and from the same publishers.
Previous page
