Messrs. Swan Sonnenschein and Co. have published the first of
a series of tabular sheets which promises to be of some service to students of history. The idea of the author—Miss A. M. Christie—is to present at one view the names of the leading personages and events of a given century, in such a way as to show their chronological order, and the length of each important life. In the specimen before us, The Historical Chart of the Thir- teenth Century, the sheet is ruled vertically into ten main divisions, each division being also ruled in fainter linos to indicate single years. The first letter of each person's name is placed at the year of his birth, and a horizontal line is extended from this point to show the period during which he lived. Above are the names and dates of the leading Sovereigns and of the Popes ; below there are, first the chief statesmen and writers of England, and then the names of the most notable personages in European history. It is intended, we believe, to treat each century successively in a single sheet on a similar plan. To a class-teacher giving a course of lessons on the annals of a special period, or to a student engaged in private reading, this simple device will be useful, as it presents to the eye an easily intelligible picture of contemporary lives and events. It is probable that a few minor improvements may be advantageously made in the remaining sheets of the series, —e.g., by a clearer distinction in type between the most significant and the least significant names, by the avoidance of the arrange- ment of some of the type at right-angles to the rest, and by fuller particulars respecting the claims of the more obscure personages whose names are included in the chart. But the plan is a good one, and presents some practical advantages not often possessed in chronological tables.
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