12 MARCH 1910, Page 29

In the series of " English Literature for Schools "

(Cambridge University Press, ls. per vol.) we have three volumes,—Jane Austen's " Pride and Prejudice," Abridged and Edited by Mrs. Frederic Boss; Selected Essays of Goldsmith, Edited, with Intro- duction and Notes, by J. H. Lobban, M.A.; and Narratives Selected from " Peaks, Passes, and Glaciers," Edited, &c., by George Wherry, M.A. Mrs. Boas gives us a brief biography of Jane Austen and an appreciation, which is not mere praise, of her work ; her notes are naturally very brief. Mr. Lobban gives an account of Goldsmith's life and work, and is laudably restrained in tho amount of his annotation, which it would have been possible to extend indefinitely. He tells us what we want. Finally, we have a useful sketch of the literature of mountaineering in the volume which Mr. Wherry has edited.—We may mention at the same time Chambers's Student's History of England and Great Britain, by W. J. Bees, B.Sc., and Johnson Fenwick, Edited by David Patrick, LL.D., and William Woodburn (W. and R. Chambers, 4e. &I.) In a book of this kind which tells in seven hundred odd pages the story of nearly two thousand years the sense of propor- tion is the most valuable quality, knowledge of the subject being

presupposed. It seems to be present here. The arrangement is good. On the whole the volume is well adapted for its purpo3e, which may be described as preparation for examination. Dr. Patrick recognises the fact that such books, however well done, cannot be final. The student must be encouraged to go further. Would not, then, a bibliography have been useful ?