2 FEBRUARY 1867, Page 22

Leaves from Mae Book of Life. By Charles Shaw. (Saunders,

Otley, and Co.)—A collection of short stories, all virtually independent of each other, but grouped round the person of the supposed narrator. This narrator is descended from one of the regicides whose names appear on the death warrant of Charles I., and he traces the misfortunes of his family to that ancestral crime. We are sorry to say that Mr. Shaw's volume is only an aggravation of the original offence. There is not much point in the stories, and they take us through France, Germany, and Italy, without adding to our knowledge or appreciation of those countries.