17 NOVEMBER 1888, Page 45

Sure to Succeed. By J Thain Davidson, D.D. (Hodder and

Stoughton.)—We recognise both the good intentions of Dr. Thain Davidson, who has done his best, by addressing meetings of young men, to warn them against the " temptations " of life in a great city, and a certain quaint originality of utterance which differen- tiates his advices from those of most authors of books of this kind. Nor would it be just to ignore the fact that, as a practical moralist, Dr. Davidson explores every corner of a young man's life, and shows how to " succeed " in matters of detail, as well as of prin- ciple. Yet these discourses seem to lose a good deal by being pub- lished in book-form. Besides, was it quite essential that Dr. Davidson should reproduce essentially slangy expressions, like "old Cicero" ?