True Tales about India : its Native Princes and British
Rulers. By S. J. Ballard, of Bangalore. (Religious Tract Society.)—This is a praiseworthy attempt to put into a shape that shall be suitable and attractive to the young some of the most striking episodes in the history of our great Eastern possession. It is written in a simple, un- affected, and almost childlike strain, that almost disarms criticism. But when the writer gets away from his stories and begins to morellos upon them, we are conscious of being bored as by a very dull sermon. Unfortunately this preaching occurs so often that we frequently forget the text in the lengthy application to ourselves. The lessons deducible from the grand stories Mr. Ballard has to tell are many, and of transcendent importance, but they cannot be taught in words of one syllable, as it were, nor are they in place in a book designed for boys and girls. As we read these pages, we long for a Napier to breathe life into them ; they are sadly wanting in vigour and" go." Still, spiritless and perfunctory as is the style, Mr. Ballard's little book may be accepted as bettor than nothing at all, for we know of no volume which at all adequately fills the place it is intended to occupy.
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