Cartoons from "Punch." 4 vols. (Bradbury, Agnew, and Co. 40s.
and 55s. net.)—These four volumes may be well called a "Pictorial History of England." In one sense they are more than a history, for they reflect the passing moods of the hour. The historian records results and the passing emotions of the times so far as they lead to results. Here we see more of history, we may say, in process of making. Sometimes it is with something like shame that we turn over these pages. There are the cartoons, for instance—the series covers the sixty years 1841-1901—which belong to the time of the Civil War in America. They represent a certain phase of British feeling, as any one who remembers the times will testify ; but how unsympathetic we were; how slew to make allowances ! We need not, however, dwell on such reflec- tions, though it is well to make them. After all, the great characteristic of the book is fun, and how admirable the fun is ! Two thousand cartoons, the work of Doyle, Leech, Tenniel, and Sambourne, what could be a greater treat !
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