Mr. TEGG has included WASHINGTON IRVING'S pleasant though overdone History
of New York in the current volume of the Family Library, with four capital illustrations by GEORGE 'CRUIKSHANK. As regards text, the volume is as neat as could be wished ; but a few notes would have added to its value and in- terest. The effects of great changes are equivalent to the lapse of time; and although only some quarter of a century has elapsed since Diedrich Knickerbocker gave his lucubrations to the world, and those lucubrations deal less in temporary allusions than Salmagundi, some of the sly witticisms must be doubtful even on the spot, and are obscure in England. Why does not the author give us a new edition of these early works, with his own explana- tions and annotations ? The thirty years that have elapsed since he first began to satirize the weak points of the noble-loving Republicans of New York, have effected greater alterations in the feelings of society and the face of things than three hundred years of the dark ages.
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