Homes and Haunts of Sir Walter Scott. By George G.
Napier. (James Maclehose and Sons, Glasgow.)—While Mr. Napier does not profess to throw fresh light on the life of his hero, his book is as valuable a contribution as has been recently made to the literature of Scott, which will soon be as formidable as the literatures which already cluster round the names of Queen Mary, Burns, and Shakespeare. His book is exquisite as regards paper, type, and illustrations. By visiting what he terms "the homes and haunts" of the great Wizard—Edinburgh, Smailholm, Yarrow, Lasswade, Ashestiel, Glasgow, Abbotsford, &c.—he succeeds, with the help of his camera, and the work of other artists, in reproducing almost every inch of ground—we had almost said of house-room—that is consecrated to the truly immortal memory. The illustrations, large and small, the por- traits of persons, as well as the pictures of places that have figured in the life and work of Scott, are alike perfect. Mr. Napier's letterpress is modest and, as we have noted, unsensa- tional. But it is something more than a mere connecting-link between pictures; it is unmistakeably written by a man who is a scholar as well as an admirer. We can conceive no better gift-book of the superior or artistic kind than this.
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