CITRRENT LITERATURE.

THOSE who can thoroughly enjoy the manifold charms of mountainous scenery without unnecessarily risking their necks, have reason to be grateful to Mrs. Freshfield* for acting as their pioneer through a comparatively un- explored region_ If inferior in savage grandeur to the loftiest ranges of the Pennine Alps, there are deep recesses and towering heights in the Rhaetian Alps of not less marvellous beauty, and which possess the not trifling ad- vantage of being accessible by others than members of the Alpine Club. Mrs. Freshfield, indeed, is eloquent in her description of the wonderful loveliness of the scenery of the Blinder Oberland and the Grisons, and is entitled to the merit of opening up a new world of exploration for the benefit of the mildly adventurous. She writes, too, in a natural and sensible manner, and never gets upon stilts, even when most excited and when most anxious to impart to others some portion of the rapture with which he; own bosom was filled and fired.

It was scarcely necessary that Mr. Shapland Stockt should write a pre- face to explain how translations should be made. Nor was there any particular occasion to print the original German or Italian side by side with his metrical version, seeing that the pieces he has selected are, of all others, the most commonly known to English readers. Besides, we must demur to accepting as poesy such lines as the following: "And he builds a dwelling lowly, In her neighbourhood ; Dusky glooms the convent holy, Thro' the lime-tree wood ; Watching there from dawn's unclosing Till the sun was gone, Placid hope his looks composing, There he sat alone."

'1' A Summer Tour in the Orisons and Italian Valleys of the Bernina. By Mrs. Henry Freshneld. Longmans and Co.

t Poenu. Chiefly translated from the German. By J. Shapland Stock. Long- mans and Co.

The ear that could rest satisfied with such rhythm as the above stanza exhibits, would be quite capable of confounding the " Stabat Mater" with the "Perfect Cure." Again, what is the grammatical construction, what the precise meaning, of these two verses?

" There was a king in Thule, True to his latest breath, Whom one that loved him truly A gold cup gave at death.

" Nought like it did he treasure, Each day it was his draught; His eyes o'erran their measure, So often as he quaffed."

Before Mr. Stock again undertakes to favour his fellow-countrymen with a taste of foreign literature it might be desirable that he should acquire the mastery of his own tongue. No doubt he means well—only his power falls short of his intentions.

Since the days of Belzoni and Abyssinian Brace old Father Nile and the land of Egypt have become almost as familiar to English readers as the Rhine and the " Vaterland." The subject, indeed, might have been thought to be exhausted, had not Mr. Fairholt* taken the trouble to prove that abundant materials still remained for the making of a very readable book. The numerous engravings with which be has illustrated his narra- tive are eminently characteristic, and add greatly to the value of his labours. Mr. Fairholt writes, too, with a freshness and 'vivacity not often met with in learned antiquaries, while his practised eye and well-stored mind give additional vigour to his powers of observation and thought. At the same time it can hardly be said that he has produced a genuine hand- book for travellers. His descriptions are necessarily too brief to satisfy the most incurious inquirer. In fact, he does not so much describe as suggest associations and recal ancient memories. With the second part of his title, however, we have no fault to find, for a more pleasant travel-book for the library it would not be easy to select.

As a confession of error is held by many persons to be scarcely inferior to a steadfast adherence to the right path, we shall not scruple to admit that we were somewhat too hasty in sneering at certain papers which originally appeared in Chambers's Journal, and are now reprinted in a collected form under the title of tlfelibaus in Town.i. Not that our criticism was unjust from one point of view, for the separate papers were decidedly meagre and apparently inconsequential. But taken as a whole, they while away an idle hour not disagreeably, and are by no means devoid of interest for those who seek to know something of the under-current of life in London. They possess, too, the merit of being entirely free from all that is objectionable. The most fastidious prude will in vain search for an excuse to get up a blush. They may not boast of much power or originality, and are not for a moment to be compared with the graphic descriptions of Mr. Sala, or the careful delineations of Mr. Hollingshead or of Mr. lloy Thomas, but, so far as they go, they are perfectly accurate, and are really faithful representations of what they profess to depict.

The mantle of Mrs. Gore has certainly not alighted on the Author of "A Woman of Spirit.": A more deplorable exhibition of ignorance and vul- garity has seldom been witnessed even in a two-volume novel. The heroine is simply an impossibility in the rank of life in which she is placed, and the idea of an Irish peer, who is also a representative peer, continually raving against the vile upstart Saxons, is utterly ridiculous. If women can find no better employment for their time than writing such preposterous non- sense as is displayed in this very silly work of fiction, it is devoutly to be hoped that the scheme for exporting them to the Antipodes will be vigorously prosecuted. The ungrammatical construction of the language, the general confusion of ideas, and the systematic repudiation of common sense displayed in every page, are irrefutable proofs of the female author- ship of these volumes. To speak so plainly of their demerits is, therefore, a painful and ungracious task; but, after all, truth is of more importance than gallantry, and it is really distressing to think of the waste of paper caused by the publication of such unreadable trash.

The issue of a second edition is the most appropriate acknowledgment of the varied excellence of Mr. Strong's sonnets.§ Graceful and scholarly, they bear witness to a refined taste, a correct ear, a cheerful fancy, and considerable versatility of treatment. Mr. Strong has augmented the repu- tation previously acquired by his translations from the Italian poets, A very useful and interesting guide-book to "the lions" of the town and castle of Windsor has been compiled by the Rev. John Stoughton,11 whose peculiar fitness for undertaking such a task was shown in his former work on " Windsor in the Olden Time." To use a stereotyped phrase, no visitor to the magnificent palace of our kings should be without a copy of this singularly well-constructed little work, which imparts the fullest informa- tion in a particularly clear and simple style. Can it be necessary to say a word in praise of Captain Dod's Peerage,1 now that it has reached its twenty-second year, and has every year gone on improving? Indeed, when it is admitted that no other work of the kind will bear comparison with it in point of cheapness, variety of contents, and facility of reference, it is manifest that the critic's ground is cut away from beneath him. The introductory articles on Precedence and the Inferior Titles of Peers are especially full of curious matter.

The Evangelical Alliance are not very likely to ask Mr. Roose** to join their ranks, even as an honorary member. That gentleman happened to be at Geneva during the Conferences, where he professes to have had "full opportunity to appreciate at their true worth that complicated theology, those absurd inconsistencies and impossible aims, those pretensions without foundation, and religion without humility, which so lamentably character- ized the proceedings " of that very exclusive Alliance. The purport of his little volume, however, is to describe Geneva as it is, and as it was in its more famous times. He has certainly succeeded in producing a book that will be read with considerable interest, and which is equally free from. forced humour and the affectation of learning.

• Up the Nile and Home Again: a Handbook for Travellers and a Travel-book for the Library. By F. W. Fairholt, F.S.A. Chapman and Hall. t Mailmen: in Town. By James Papa. Macmillan and Co. The Woman of Spirit : a Novel. In Two Vole. T Cautley Newby.

I Sonnets. By the Reverend Charles Strong, M.A., F.R.A.S. Walton and VA. berley.

II Windsor: A History and Description of the Castle and the Town. By the. Bev. John Stoughton. Ward and Co.

' The Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland, f;or 1362, including all the Titled Classes. 22d Year. By It. 1'. Dod, Esq. Whittaker And Co. vs. Geneva, Past and Present ; with Notes of a Journey to Naples. By Moose. A. and C. Black.; Edward Mahon