A Day after the Fair. By William Cairns. (Swan Sonnen-
sohein and Co.)—A. briskly written story, well fitted to while away an hour of railway travel. But Mr. Cairns somehow gives one the impression of being able to do much better. He is evidently well read, and writes good English.
M. de Laveleye's interesting volumes, La Pdninsule ties Balkans, were reviewed at length in our columns on the occasion of their first appearance in book form, more than a year ago. They had previously appeared in the form of letters contributed to the Revue des dear Bonder, towards the end of the year 1885; but of these facts Mr. Gladstone can hardly have been aware, to judge from the opening sentence of the letter prefixed to the English version now before us, The Balkan Peninsula (T. Fisher Cowin), in which, under date January 27th, 1887, he writes ,—"I learn with particular satisfaction that you are about to publish a detailed work on the Balkan Peninsula." The work in its present one-volume form, while considerably condensed, has two valuable additions in the shape of a good map and an introductory chapter on the most recent events, in which 31. de Laveleye's sympathies for the Bulgarians in their straggle for independence, and his indignation at the methods of Russian diplomacy, are expressed in the frankest manner. The excisions, while reducing the work to a convenient size, have not always been very judiciously executed. For example, it is decidedly misleading to omit the author's indication as to the source of a good deal of his information about recent events in Bulgaria,— namely, the notorious book by M. Drandar. The translation is but an indifferent piece of workmanship, and abounds in blenders. Mrs. Thorpe often confuses tninistere with ministre, readers massifs bases, "immense forests ;" &aqua, "tracked ;" toutefois, " always ;" and, most curious error of all, translates Oesterreich, "Empire of the West." But, in spite of these inaccuracies and the general angularity of the rendering, the work is a welcome and opportane contribution to contemporary political literature.
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