24 MARCH 1888, Page 21

We have received the fourth edition of The Law of

General Average, English and Foreign. By Richard Lowndes. (Stevens and Sons.) —" General average," it may be necessary to explain, is a technical term connected with damage to ships and cargoes, and the law of marine insurance in general. Mr. Lowndes has been waiting, be explains in his preface, for the final settlement of some recent litigation which at one time threatened to change in some important respects the current conceptions of the law. His volume, therefore, now states it as it is settled by the latest authority.—We have also received the first volume of an English translation, by Major Alex. Ewing, of Hoffman's series of tales, which bear the name of The Serapin Brethren. (George Bell and Sons.)—It contains four sections of the work, and thirteen tales. Major Ewing's skill as a translator has already been tested by the difficulties of Jean Paul Richter.