The Boys' Odyssey. By Walter C. Perry. (Macmillan and Co.
6s.)—This is a pretty book; the story is well told, though there might be improvements. Our chief objection is to the mixing of Homeric and post-Homeric legends. The latter are often pic- turesque, but they diminish, on the whole, the Homeric dignity. Thetis dipping the infant Achilles in the Styx is an instance. As a matter of fact, this contradicts Homer, for Asteropaeus actually wounds the hero ; manifestly he is conscious that he is as much open to death in battle as are other men. We notice one or two points which might be amended. Na.usicaa, for instance, had her maidens in the chariot with her as she went. For politeness' sake, as she came back, the maidens went on foot with the guest. "Her attendants followed," Mr. Perry has it. (The mules 44 pm, obe any.) Nausicaa, again, did not throw the ball " at " one of her attendants. She threw it to her. The other action would have been scarcely dignified, an eminently Homeric quality. "Rich in council" must be an error of the press. "Now I ordain an escort for thee on a certain day" does not clearly express that the King means to send him home. The Vaiaa which the Queen bids her maidens place in the hall for the strangers were not " bedsteads." The bedsteads of heroic times were very solid affairs. They were mattresses, put down for the occasion, as they might be now ; in the plural, too, because, just as now, two would be more comfortable than one.
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