5 OCTOBER 1889, Page 27

The History of Ancient Civilisation. Edited by the Rev. I.

Verschoyle, M.A. (Chapman and Hall.)—This handbook, which the editor has " based upon M. Gustave Ducoudray's Histoire Sommaire de In Civilisation,"' obviously attempts too much. Prehistoric man, Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia, Phoenicia, in- cluding Carthage and the civilisation of the East, are discussed in the first book ; a second is given to " Greek Civilisation," and a third to Rome. We do not deny that there may be a certain usefulness even in so brief a summary as this, done as it is with skill and general accuracy; the danger is that those who use it may fancy that they have a knowledge which they do not really possess.