We have received from Messrs. Hildesheimer and Faulkner a •
collection of Christmas Cards, single, or in sets of two or three.
Among them are many pretty designs, landscapes, flowers, figures ; and some humorous, comic men and comic beasts,—a set of dogs in judges' robes being as good as any in this last class. Of the serious kind, we may mention a design by the late Alice Havers (the flowers being better than the figures), illustrated by some pretty verses by Miss Helen M. Burnside, "An Old Garden." Of a somewhat more ambitious kind is "Recollections of Venice," a set of coloured drawings by Mr. Charles Robertson, with illustra- tive verses selected from Shelley, Rogers, and Byron. Every kind of taste can find something suitable in this very large assortment, —for there must be not less than fifty sets to choose from. To mention all that axe worthy of praise, would carry us far beyond all possible limits, but we must name a set of charming children from the pencil of Miss Edith Scannell, a lady of whose work we have had occasion to speak appreciatively more than once.—From the same firm we have received three new Games. Two of these, " Spottit " and "Stumbling- Blocks," are of the kind which are meant to allure young people into learning something without knowing it. "Spottit" is intended to teach geography, and we are assured that "no step of the game can be taken without the unconscious acquirement of some fresh knowledge ;" and "Stumbling-Blocks," which is eatable of four varieties, is a "spelling game." " Flickem," on the other hand, has no such insidious purpose. It is a sort of drawing-room quoits, the quoits being coloured cards, which are thrown into a box-like receptacle. Like the old sport of throwing playing-cards into a hat, it looks easier than it is.—Messrs. Wolff and Son send us The Spots' Puzzle. Some people like being maddened by a puzzle ; probably they will find this to their taste. Nine blocks have to be arranged into the shape of a die, with the usual markings.
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