21 MARCH 1903, Page 24

A World's Shrine. By Virginia W. Johnson. (Gay and Bird.

6s. net.)—Miss Johnson, who is an expert in matters Italian,.gives us a pleasant little volume about the Lake of Como. She tells noinething about the past of the place and about the present. In the past the chief figurels the Younger Pliny, certainly one of the most pleasing of Roman notables, and to be seen in his best aspect in this his native region. As for the present, we have sketches of the dwellers by the lake, the fisherman, for instance, and the very lovely hostess of the little hostelry on the western shore. Then there are descriptions of scenery. Altogether,.it is a go book to read. But it is to be wished that Miss Johnson had asked some Latin scholar to look over her pages. What are wp to make of this: "C. Plinius, son of a sister and (sic] Luc', Ceoilio, a very ancient and noble family of Greek origin, belonging to the Diumvirus of the Colony Julia Equestria" P