The Story of Norway. By Charlotte S. Sidgwick. (Rivingtons.) —
This is one of a series of little books, which Messrs. Rivington are publishing for the perusal of young children. Mr. Sidgwick has carried out her method of writing the story of Norway in an admirable manner ; but her style seems so laboriously simple, that we are not sure whether, in several instances, she has not lost in clearness by refusing the" little ones " credit for knowledge of a larger number of words. A ohild who will read and appreciate such a history as that of Norway does not need to have an iceberg personified into the monster " Great Ice ;" nor will it require a too frequent use of notes of exclamation and interrogation to convey to its mind a meaning which may just as well have been understood when expressed in a few simple sentences. For the rest, the authoress has caught the spirit of the old skalds, and reproduced them effectively ; and in continuing the story down to the present time, she has picturesquely described the careers of the warriors and kings, and given her readers many a welcome peep into the political and social conditions of Norwegians, peat and present. We are glad she has not forgotten to say something of the country's literature. Her commencing chapter on its geological formation, and that at the end of the book upon its geography, are appropriately placed and well adapted to her purpose.
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