Manual of Mythology. By Alexander S. Murray. (Asher.)—A book of
this kind reminds one forcibly of the marvellous improvement which the last thirty years have brought about in the apparatus of classical learning. Boys who were unlucky enough to have been born so soon had to get their mythology from Lempriere, a book which had no pretensions to learning, while it might fairly be seized under Lord Camp- bell's Act against obscene publications. The luckier scholars of to-day have such an excellent little work as Mr. Murray's to go to. It is founded on the works of three German authors, Petiscus, Preller, and Wekker ; but the author seems to have given to the materials a form of his own, and to have modified in some cases the conclusions of his authorities by the results of later investigations. The first chapter speaks of "Deities of the Highest Order," the second " Inferior Deities," and the third of the "Heroes," this latter containing sketches of some of the great legends of Greece and Rome. Shorter chapters follow, giving accounts of Egyptian, Scandinavian, and Indian mythologies. The volume is illustrated throughout with neatly-executed plates. Notable among them is "Diana of Ephesus," contrasting so curiously with the exquisitley graceful Artemis of Greek art.
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