CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS HOOKS.
Beauty and the Beast. An Old Tale new-told with Pictures by "E. V. B." (Sampson Low and Co.)—" E. V. B.'s " pictures are always charming. Their delicacy, richness, and glow make her illustrations delightful, and none she has given us have been more so than these, though we note a certain amount of discrepancy between the various pictures of "the Beast," which will at once strike the young reader. "The Beast," when he first appears to the merchant, is a mild-looking brown beast, with walrus-tusks, and a very human round head. But he has turned quite black before ho entertains Beauty, when his fur is like the blackest beaver's. There is also some little incon- gruity between the pictures and the tale as told. The frontispiece has nothing corresponding to it in the tale. And the words put into Beauty's mouth on the back of some of the pictures are not put into her mouth in the text. The tale is prettily retold, but in a rather too archaic style. For words like " daffish" (p. 41), and "manger,". used as a noun (p. 46), we can find no entries in Johnson's four volumes of the date of 1805, and they must then have been long out of use. However, there are not many words of this kind. It would be better to leave them out in a second edition, and also to make the transformed Prince talk good grammar when ho tells Beauty of his identity with the Beast, and not say, "For indeed I am that Beast, and he was me." These are little defects easily removed, but the tale is very poetically told even if we could well spare the old-fashioned style ; and the illus- trations, as we have said, are full of exquisite drawing and brilliancy. A prettier Christmas present for a child it would not be easy to find. The mere Wading is itself in admirable taste.— Old English Homes: a Summer's Sketch-book. By Stephen Thompson. (Sampson Low.) There are some very pretty photographs in this volume. Architecture is, of course, a specially suitable subject for the art, yet we do not know whether, after all, a little vignette of "Golding Hops" is not the most charming thing in the volume. Ightham Mote, of which there are three views, Bever Castle, Penshnrst Place (in five views), Hurst (in seven), and Hampden House, are the "Homes" included. The letter-press is written in a stile somewhat too ornate for our taste, leas reflection and more informAtIon would have suited us better. —The Sea, by Jules Michelet (Nelson), has been translated by Mr. W. H. Davenport Adams. A handsome volume, beautifully printed, adorned with attractive illustrations, and containing within it all the felicities and surprises of which the pen of M. Michelet is so fertile, must be allowed a certain importance and value. It is not indeed a scientific work, as the translator, Mr. Davenport Adams, who has executed a difficult task with commendable success, allows. In fact, its chief fault is that when wo have read it, we seem to know a great deal about M. Michelet, but very little about the " Sea." That ingenious person, in fact, has taken this subject, and wraps up a very molerate knowledge of it (we mean the knowledge that he shows, not what ho has) in voluminous coverings of sentiment. There is the whale, for instance ; any-natural-history book would tell one as much, or more, about it than one gets here, but no one but M. Michelet would bo capable of singing so amazing an epithalamium over its loves. Love, indeed, is a theme to which M. Michelet's pen flies with eagerness. '" This great writer," says Mr. Adams, " occasionally ventilates' sentiments not entirely in accordance with our sober English taste." This is not an extravagant way of putting it. The fervour of M. Michelet's style is something to which we are quite unaccustomed here, and which, should Paterfamilias take to reading the book aloud without carefully looking ahead, would astonish the family circle not a little. We cannot help thinking that some judicious retrenchment would have made the work, which we need not say is one of real genius, more generally accoptable.—The Universe, by C. A. Ponchet (Blackie), is a book of established reputation. It now appears in a third edition, somewhat crin- pressed from those that have preceded it, and in a cheaper form. It should be mentioned also that the translation has been revised.— Outline Illustrations to Burger's Ballads; Goethe's Faust ; Schiller's Fight with the Dragon and Fredolin, by Moritz Retzsch ; and Schiller's Lay of the Bell, illustrated with woodcuts by Thomas Scott, after Retzsch. (Sampson, Low, Marston, and Co.) Moritz Retzsch, an artist of Dresden, was favourably known at the beginning of the present century, both in England and Germany, for his outline illustrations to Shakespeare, Goethe, and Schiller. He possessed a vivid imagination, which took its highest flights into the weird and supernatural, combined with a free and vigorous use of the pencil. His women are not pre-eminent for either beauty or grace, his youthful forms are insipid, his animals gro- tesque, and his distances often faulty. But in depicting the cynical leer of Mephistopheles, the brutal satisfaction of intending murderers (Fridolin), the wild, apish diablerie of witch-revels, the terrible ghostly abode of the dead (Leonora's death-bridal), he is probably unrivalled. We very much question the good taste of introducing Burger's ballad, " The Pastor's Daughter of Tanbehain," with its plates, particularly No. 4, which displays a revolting realism that would be much more at home in a copy of the Police News. "Faust " pleases us the most of the four volumes.—Army and Navy Drolleries, by Captain Seccombe. (Frederick Warne and Co.) The rich colouring of the gay uniforms and the amusing caricatures are sure to render this book very popular in our nurseries, and will cause many a laugh at the expense of the gallant sons of Mars. It is an A B 0 primer of an entirely new type, and will be an agreeable change to martial young heroes after the ordinary bucolic or industrial character of such publications.— Old Christmas, by Washington Irving. (Macmillan.) This is the re- print of the well-known chapters on " Christmas" which are to be found in the Sketch-Book. These would always have a welcome, but now they come copiously adorned with a number of very charming illustrations, designed by Mr. Randolph Caldecott and engraved and arranged by Mr. J. D. Cooper. These are given with a lavish hand, and number more than a hundred. Of course they are of unequal merit. The scene has to be thrown back many years, and some of the types of men and things are unfamiliar. The stage-coach which heads Chapter II. is not very happy, and the coachman on p. 23 and elsewhere does not quito answer the recollections of our youth. The hat, for instance, may be excepted to. But most strike us as good, and the female figures are particularly graceful, witness the "little romp- ing girl" on p. 67, and the " fair Julia " on p. Th.— Famous Historical Scenes, from Three Centuries, selected from the works of Standard Authors, by A. R. Hope Moncrieff (Nimmo), is a book full of excellent reading, selected on sound principles from the works "of standard historians," or "credible eye-witnesses or contemporaries." A wide range of writers has been laid under contribution, and some of them will be new to many readers. We may mention" The Plague of Marseilles," from LOmentey's " History of the Regency ;" " The Trial and Execution of the Rebel Lords," from the Letters of Horace Walpole ;" and " The Last Hours of Louis XVI.," from the "Journal " of Clery, the King's valet. We may recommend the book as an excellent alterative, after a long course of fiction.—Along with the preceding we may mention The Book of Adventure and Peril, a Record of Endurance and Heroism on Sea and Land, compiled and edited by Charles Bruce. (Nimmo.) This, too, is full of interesting reading. The first book is occupied with escapes of prisoners and the like ; the second with the adventures of castaways on various seas, frozen and tropical ; the third with the perils of captives among savage tribes, and the fourth with the achievements and escapes of mighty hunters. Many of these stories are such as no tale- writer can hope to surpass, or even to equal. We give again our best recommendation to this book, as well as two other companion-volumes, which we most be content briefly to indicate, Great Historical Mutinies, by D. Herbert (Nimmo), the mutinies related being that of "The Bounty," " The Mutiny at Spithead," " The Mutiny at the Nora," " The Mutinies in Highland Regiments," and the "The Indian Mutiny ;" and from the mane publishers, Great Triumphs of Great Men, edited by James Mason.
—The Book for Every Day, edited by James Mason (Nimmo), is an entertaining collection of anecdotes, notices of old customs, &c., and other miscellanies.—Why does not some one reprint—with a few omis- sions, perhaps, here and there—William Hone's Every-day Book ?— Of The English Explorers (Nimmo), wo should say that the plan is not quite in proportion. "Arctic Explorations " might be made the subject of an article, nay, of a book, of the highest interest, if it were done by a person thoroughly well read in the literature of Arctic travel, and illus- trated withal by a map. The map indeed is essential. The extracts from Sir John Mandeville are amusing. Too much space is given to Bruce, and quite enough at least to Park. African travel again affords a first-rate subject to any one who would systematise what has been discovered by Spoke, Grant, Burton, Barth, Schweinfiirth, and others.— Tell Me a Story, by Ennis Graham (Macmillan), has some capital little stories for children. The " Reel Fairies " whom the comely little Louisa makes out of the contents of her mother's work-box, are delightful .creatures, and " Mary Ann Jolly" is another fascinating inhabitant of that wonderful "Doll-world" in which some children dwell, whose acquaintance we are glad to make. "Too Bad" is the most directly didactic of the stories, and applies an excellent moral so well, that we shall not quarrel with it on that account. But we do quarrel with many of the new fairy-tales for this fault. What was the moral of "The White Cat " and its compeers ? Of course you were to be brave and good, but it was always more important to be a third son. Joachim's Spectacles, by M. and C. Lee (Griffith and Ferran), for instance, is a prettily written book, but it is too much like an allegory, and allegories are always inclined to be tiresome. Still there is an interesting story in it, if you choose to shut your eyes to the meaning.— Seven Autumn Leaves from Fairy-land (Henry S. King and Co.), has the fault less developed. " Little Hans " has a most amusing ad- venture with the goblins, and the "Two Princes" go through some very thrilling scenes. We cannot help wishing that the children who comment on what they have heard had been allowed to say a little more. A terrible story has just been told of little Dimple, who, for stealing some strawberry-jam, had a patch of it fixed on her cheeks. "'What did the fairy do with the rest of the jam ?' asked four-year-old Madge.= She put it in closets, here and there, for nice little girls.'-
' 0 yes!' cries she, eagerly, know, we have got some, but I didn't know before the way it came.' "—Seven Birthdays ; or, the Children of Fortune. By Kathleen Knox. (Griffith and Ferran.) Here we have the popnlur rhyme, "Monday's child is fair of face," &c., exemplified in seven stories, rather too sad for our taste. Why is the poor creature whose fate it was to be pretty so ill-treated ?—Nine Little Goslings, by Susan Coolidge (Routledge), comes from a hand which always knows how to write something graceful and pleasant. Here, too, we have the pathetic element, but it is very skilfully managed. Many readers will have a tear for the dear little Mignon when she has ridden her last ride in the circus, and when Pluto, her horse, put in his head into the tent where she lies, and neighs. (How strongly the sympathy of animals with human grief always moves us!) But we feel that she is taken from the evil to come. Generally cheerfulness reigns, as in such books it should. All the stories are pretty. "Lady Queen Anne" is perhaps the best —The Man's Boot, and other Tales. With Illustrations by Harrison Weir. (Griffith and Ferran.) Fables are meant to be didactic, and these contrive to teach with a sly and gentle humour which is very commendable. We have tried two or three of them on a young audience with very satisfactory result. And then there are Mr. Harrison Weir's drawings, which would be a sufficient recommendation even if the text were naught.—Buttercups and Daisies, with Illus- trations by Oscar Pletach (Routledge), is a book of gay-coloured pic- tures for the young ones, but the rhymes do not increase its value.— The Modern Playmate, compiled and edited by the Rev. J. G. Wood. (Warne.) The Playmate is described as "a book of games, sports, and divisions for boys of all ages," and it now appears in a new and revised edition. We observe what we take to be additions. There are instructions for carrying on "pisciculture," for instance, an amusement certainly not known in our youth. Lawn-tennis, the game of the future, is of course described, though here we detect an error. The rule that "it is not allowed to volley" a ball, i.e.—to strike it before it touches the ground—" applies to the service only. After the service, the volley" may be used at pleasure, and is indeed the most effective of strokes. Our impression of the whole book is—that it is very complete and accurate.—Among the yearly volumes of Magazines, Annuals, &c., we have to mention Aunt Judy's Christmas Volume for 1875, edited by H. R. F. Getty and J. H. Ewing (George Bell and Sons), and Every Boy's Annual, edited by Edmund Routledge (Routledge) ; The Sunday at Home (Religions Tract Society), and also, proceeding, we believe, from the same source, though we see no notification of the fact on the title-page, The Leisure Hour. Both these are meritorious maga- zines, and supply a vast amount of wholesome reading, both secular and religions.—The Church of England Sunday-School Magazine (Church of England Sunday-School Institute) has the special object of supplying matter for Sunday-school teachers, and seems to carry it out effectively.—From the same source we have The Sunday Scholar's Companion, and two little tales, Matted ; or, the Little Guide, by L. S. E. ; Charlie Harvey, a Tale on Baptism ; and Little Ned and his Companions, by Ellen Lipscomb.—Here we may mention, though not in its proper place, Sunday Evenings at Home, by the Rev. H. E. Adams. (Routledge.) This is the second and concluding volume of a book which we remem- ber to have noticed last year. Every Sunday is illustrated by some narrative from history, selected for its appropriateness to some part of the services of the day. The volume before us contains the Sundays from Ascension to Advent. The plan of bringing illustrations of religious truth from the very widest circles of secular history cannot be too highly commended.
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