The Rock of the Lion. By M. Elliot SeawelL (Harper
and Brothers.)—This is one of the best stories of the kind that we have read this year. Archibald Baskerville has served as a mid- shipman with Paul Jones, and has been taken prisoner. He is the grandson and heir of an English Peer,—another " Lord Fauntleroy," one might say, only that he is an American citizen, proud of his country, and quite resolved not to give up his birth- right even for a peerage and great estate. This is all very admirable, but in itself it would not be exactly to the taste of an English reader. See, then, the artfulness of the writer. Young
Baskerville is brought by circumstances into close contact with the brave garrison of Gibraltar. On the first occasion he is inside the fortress, and gives practical proof of his sympathy with the men of his own race who are defending it. On the second he witnesses from a French ship the failure of the final bombard. ment. Here comes in, therefore, the satisfaction to British pride. This is a really excellent book, which we recommend without reserve. At any time it would be worth reading, and just now it is eminently seasonable.
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