27 FEBRUARY 1886, Page 21

CURRENT LITERATURE.

A First History of England, by Louise Creighton, a third edition, illustrated (Rivingtons), is yet another contribution to the difficult problem of writing history for children. The particular lines, if any, on which this history has been projected, are not referred to by the authoress, nor do we notice anything very new or distinctive in the treatment ; that it is successful, this third edition is evidence. It

is contained in twenty-four chapters, extending to nearly four hundred pages ISmo, from the Roman rule to the death of Prince Albert. The illustrations, "from authentic sources," and forty in number, are not the least valuable part of the book ; the narrative is easy and very simple, and, in great part, takes a story-telling form, which we hold to be the right " idea " of a child's history. The matter is, very properly, not confined to the strictly "historical." We notice that eighteen lines are given to Chaucer, against two only to Shake- speare. As Marlowe is mentioned, we de not ace why Dryden, Pope,

Ac., and even Sir Walter Scott, should be altogether omitted ; at least, we have found no mention of them, and they do not appear hi the index. Scott's novels, and the historical plays of Shakespeare, could, no doubt, easily be made to tell a tale of a page or two that would excite the interest of juvenile historical readers. Genealogical tables, of the usual formidable appearance, are inserted, but we miss any chronological table, even a simple one of the Kings.