ScnooL-Booxs.—In a series of "Little French Classics" (Mackie and Son,
4d. per vol.) we have Select Poems of Victor Hugo, edited by Philip C. Yorke, M.A.; Selections from L'Insecte of Michelet, edited by Maurice A. Gerothwohl, B.Phil.; Contes Fantastiques of Erckmann-Chatrian, edited by Marguerite Ninet ; and tin Episode de Guerre by Stendhal, edited by J. C. Mitchell, M.A. All these, it is scarcely necessary to say, are very useful little books. A term's, or part of a term's, reading, so very cheaply supplied, and furnished, too, with convenient accessories in the shape of intro- ductions, notes, &c., is a really considerable boon to teachers and taught. The first on our list is, we think, quite a model of what such a book should be. The editor has supplied the reader with exactly the help that he ought to have. The "Critical Note on Victor Hugo" is excellent, though it will certainly not satisfy Hugo worshippers. Then there is a "Note on the Verso " (the Alexandrine), which assumed in Hugo's hands almost a new form. For the rest, the editor commonly gives, not translations, which it is often better not to give, but explanations of references, allusions, &c., for which a learner might search in vain. All these little books are reasonably well edited. Yet to translate such expressions as " it fit des phrases," " h. travers champs," " h bras tench'," " precieux," " ancien soldat de marine," as we find to have been done, may save the learner some trouble, but does not really help him.—In the same publishers' " Little German Classics " we have Select Ballads of Schiller, edited by Frieda Weekley. We wish publishers, at least here in England, would have the courage to discard these Gothic characters.—In the "Cons Moyen et Superieur " (A. and C. Black, 6d.) we have Maitre Patelin, avec Notes par Marguerite Ninet.—From the same publishers Macbeth, edited by L. W. Lyde, M.A. (Is. 4d.), furnished with ample Introduction, Notes, and Glossary ; also The Fair Maid of Perth, edited by E. W. Jackson, M.A. (1s. 6d.), and the same in a shortened form by the same editor (1s. 4d.)
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