English, Lands, Letters, and Kings. By Donald G. Mitchell. (Sampson
Low, Marston, and Co.)—Mr. Mitchell has here col- lected, under a somewhat awkward title, a number of discursive
talks" on English literary celebrities of the Anne and Georgian periods ; and, in emulation of his courtly subjects, has dedicated his volume rather fulsomely to Mrs. Grover Cleveland. It is to be hoped that the lady who is "so worthy an occupant of the Presidential Mansion" may find time at this present crisis to glance over the pages so lovingly devoted to these old English worthies, such as Bishop Berkeley, Thomas Gray, and Dr. Johnson. To an Englishman it is little short of amazing to find with what profoundly affectionate esteem a modern American regards the grandest of old Tories who wrote "Taxation no Tyranny," and who never ceased to r,evile the rebellious colonists. Mr. Mitchell's pages, indeed, show that Dr. Johnson is to him not only the soul of manhood, but an object of personal affection. It should never be forgotten that such a state of widespread feeling is due entirely to the gadding and garrulous Boswell, without whose chatty biography Johnson might have now presented a very different figure before Englishmen and Americans. The general tone of Mr. Mitchell's book is excellent. There is no attempt at profound or novel criticism in dealing with these well-worn subjects ; but such a book can do nothing but good in keeping alive among our Transatlantic cousins the feeling of our common kinship, and a respect and appreciation for our common litera- ture and our noble mother-tongue.
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