FRENCH HISTORY FOR ENGLISH CHILDREN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR." _I Sre,—In your review of Miss Brook's " French History for English Children," in the Spectator of the 3rd inst., you say that the authoress is a labourer in virgin soil, as English litera- ture can boast of no other history of France, except one by the Rev. James White, which " seems somehow to have slipped out of sight and out of mind." The work of another English writer seems to have shared the same fate. In 1840, there was published the fifth edition of a "History of France," " for the use of young personi," written by Mrs. Markham. Although the style is rather too wordy, and the English not faultless, yet it is amusing and impressive. The chapters are short, and read like a story being narrated ; and after each there follows a con- versation, supposed to be between Mrs. Markham and her three children. The children ask questions on what their mother has just been telling them, and this often leads to some very amusing anecdotes, told with a view of impressing the history upon their minds.—I am, Sir, &c., Market Bann, September 8th. MARY FLOWERS.
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