CURRENT LITERATURE.
Cassell's History of the War between France and Germany, 1870-1. (Cassell and Co.)—These two large and handsome volumes form as complete, and as far as we can judge, as trustworthy a history of the war as is to be found anywhere. The narrative has been compiled, says Mr. Edmund Oilier, who appends his signature to the preface, by "a laborious comparison of the chief available authorities." Copious use has been made of the communications of English war-correspondents. As the contents of the volume have been published periodically, advan- tage has been taken of their appearance in a collected form, to supple- ment and correct them by a copious index. The impartiality which is claimed for the writer may fairly be allowed to have been uniformly maintained, as between the two combatants. On other matters the writer sometimes goes out of his way to give an opinion. There can be no reason, for instance, for his so often airing his views about Established Churches. The illustrations are plentiful, and executed with spirit It would have been as well, seeing that they do not always face the appropriate text, to give some notice of the passage to which they belong.
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