20 MARCH 1880, Page 22

A Short Geography of the British Isles, By J. R.

Green, M.A.,. and Alice Stopford Green. (Macmillan.)—Mr. Green is a little too. hard, in his introduction, on "geographical text-books." They are- not all so dreary as he thinks. There is, for instance, an excellent one by Mr. Clarke, of which Mr. Green's publishers have, we presume, a good opinion. Of course, all such books need the viva vox of an intelligent and well-informed teacher to illustrate them ; but they are- convenient repositories of facts, which no man can always have at his fiagers'-ends. The book before us, which is a most interesting and, in its way, most valuable work, leaves little to the teacher, and is intended, we suppose, for a different mode of instruction. A teacher, indeed, could not do better than study it. It would make an excellent reading-book. But a teacher who wanted to give his- class such a knowledge of geography as is wanted, say, for the Cam- bridge Local Examination, could hardly use it. Its very length for- bids. The authors humorously call it "short," but it extends. beyond 400 pages ; and we are afraid to say how much time it would, demand.