[Under this heading we notice such Books of the week
as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] The Burns Country. By Charles S. Dougall, M.A. (A. and C. Black. 6s.)—This is the third of a series in which "The Scott Country," by Mr. W. S. Crockett, and "The Ingoldsby Country," by Mr. C. G. Harper, have already been published. Similar volumes are promised about Dickens, Thackeray, and Mr. Thomas Hardy. We would make, in view of what is to come, a suggestion con- cerning the maps. The map given at the end of the volume is on too small a scale to be of any use. (It is about ten miles to three inches.) Now if each chapter, the introductories excepted, had been furnished with a large-scale map, it would have been a most serviceable arrangement. The photographic illustrations are good enough, but they could have been spared, if a choice had to be made. As for the book, it is all that could be desired. Mr. Dougall does not limit himself to Burns. Being a patriotic Scots- man, he must, of course, have a chapter about" Wallace in Ayrshire." And then we have " Bruce in Carrick," and a narrative of "godly Mr. Peden." Apropos of Peden we have a capital story. Boswell of Auchinleck was summoned for having had a child baptised by a Covenanting minister. His neighbour, the Earl of Dumfries, cleared his character by saying that it was not David Boswell's doing, but that of an old aunt who had " 18,000 marks which he has a prospect of." "Hang her," went on the Earl, " and, take my word for it, David Boswell will turn Mahommedan, if you please." We do not complain of the episodes ; they improve the book. The melancholy truth is that it is quite possible to hear too much of Burns outside his books.
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