The third volume of Blackie's Modern Cyclopedia, closing with a
short article on Firdusi, the Persian epic poet, has just been published, and, like its predecessors, contains a vast amount of information carefully and almost painfully condensed. Sometimes this condensation results in poverty, not, as it should, in piquancy, of characterisation. Thus, while the biography of Cromwell is, considering the space allotted to it, of really remarkable excellence, that of the elder Dumas is poor, the writer failing to bring out adequately the negroid qualities of his hero's character. Thee, again, why give any space whatever to the little Scotch Parlia- mentary burgh of Culross, with its population of 373, when no mention is made of its abbey, its girdles, or of anything that has given it a reputation even in Scotland F On the other hand, it would have been difficult to have said more about Faith in such small space, without giving offence to any one, than is here said. Speaking generally, it is only the hypercritical that either can or will find fault with a work which has already earned a title to be regarded as one of the handiest and most accurate of reference- books.
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