CURRENT LITERATURE.
GIFT-BOOKS.
Fair Women and Brave Men. By Barbara Hutton. (Griffith, Farran, and Co.)—This series of " Stories of Heroic Historical Characters" begins with a chapter entitled " Chivalrous Ex- amples." We might question the encomiums which the author bestows on chivalry as " the upholder of all that was lofty, heroic, and ideal," for it certainly had another side ; but it will be suffi- cient to say that she has collected a number of interesting facts or fictions. (Surely it would have been better to mention the historical victory of Badon Hill in connection with Arthur rather than the mythical Cathargion with the "brave Cornishmen, who [sic], for their great strength and stature, he always placed in the front line of battle.") After Arthur, we hear, among others, of Jane, Countess of Montfort ; of Bayard, and of Duguesclin. The second chapter is devoted to St. Louis, the third to Joan of Arc, the fourth to Sir Philip Sidney. So far, we have no fault to find,—at least, with the plan of the book. But why two chapters on the unhappy child who was called Louis XVII. P They seem wholly out of place, whatever interest they may have in themselves.
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