Stray Records. By Clifford Harrison. 2 vols. (Bentley and Son.)—Mr.
Harrison has put together a number of recollections in these two volumes. There are experiences of his own met with in the exercise of his profession as a reciter ; there are reminis- cences of kinsfolk and friends and of not a few distinguished per- sons with whom he has come into contact,—Browning, Tennyson, Dean Stanley, and Charles Kingsley among them ; and there are recollections which have to do with places more than persons. There is a chapter, which is well worth reading, on "Parsons' Reading." Mr. Harrison thinks that, "as a class, parsons read admirably." This is a little startling, and certainly different from what the laity commonly think We cannot think that Mr. Harrison is right in applying the same canon to the reading of the Prayers and of the Lessons. Surely when Isaiah rises "on a wind of prophecy," when Ezekiel denounces the false shepherds, when St. Paul applies his close and cogent reasoning, the reader shculd not use the same tones. Mr. Harrison, in fact, seems to recommend monotone both for Prayers and for Lessons. Amusing stories are not wanting to the records. The best belong to the writer's own experiences. We hear, for instance, of a lady who, having been disappointed by Mr. Harrison's illness, in proposing another engagement wrote that she "must request that, if Mr. Harrison is ill this year, he will give her at least a week's notice." It is interesting to hear that Charles Kingsley was not always in the mood which inspired him with the pan to the East Wind. On one occasion he said to Mr. Harrison, when the wind was from the north-east, "Here is a wind which will kill you if you give it the chance It is an assassin." We are told that Kingsley received a letter of sympathy on the occasion of his wife's illness from Dean Stanley. Ho examined it for many minutes. At last he said : "I have every reason to believe that this is a very kind letter of sympathy from Stanley. I feel sure it is. Yet the only two words I can even guess at are 'heartless devil "
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