17 DECEMBER 1864, Page 20

Crusoe's Island, with Sketches of Adventure in California and Was/we.

By J. Rosa Browne. (Sampson Low, Son, and Marston.)—Mr. Browne has spoilt his book by mixing up a quantity of fiction intended to be humorous, with his account of Juan Fernandez, and also, we fancy, with his Californian sketches. A book should be one thing or another, true or false. The illustrations are open to a similar charge. Most of them appear to be original, but a great many are taken from an old edition of Robinson Crusoe. This would be harmless enough if they were not passed off as original. The cut of an American living on the Isle of Juan Fernandez, and entitled "The American Crusoe" (p. 92), is in reality an old pic- ture of Robinson Crusoe, the picture of the grave of a Scotchman who was murdered on the island (p. 111) is in reality an old cut of Robinson Crusoe setting up his cross. This seems to us to be an artifice which is quite unjustifiable.