Handbook for Durham and Northumberland. Handbook for Ireland. (John Murray.)—Two
seasonable additions to Mr. Murray's admirable series of handbooks. About the Irish volume there is nothing very remark- able either in plan or execution except the capital travelling map of Ireland in two sheets compiled by Mr. Stanford. So carefully executed a map of the sister isle on the same scale we have never before seen. The two northern counties have been treated in a spirit somewhat different. The English handbooks generally confine themselves to description, but the editor of this volume gives us the interesting local traditions and ballads which form the principal interest of counties not generally remarkable for natural beauty. The ill-fated Lord Dorwent- water, the favourite hero of Northumberland, figures largely in these touching old traditions, as well as Bernard Gilpin, " the Apostle of the North." The editor has in this way made his work not only a good guide for the traveller, but a most readable and entertaining book.
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