CURRENT LITERATURE.
GIFT-BOOKS.
Heroes of Our Day : Recent Winners of the Victoria Cross. By Walter Richard. (J. S. Virtue and Co.)—We are glad that the brave deeds distinguished by the honour of the "Cross of Valour," should be fittingly commemorated. The vates Ewer even now is not always forthcoming ; sometimes humble prose may perform his function sufficiently well. The decoration was instituted on January 29th, 1856, and the first recipients received the Cross from the hands of the Queen in the following June. Since then it has been bestowed many times. It would be almost invidious to single out instances ; but the action of Sir Redvers Buller at the Inhlobane Mountain in March, 1879, was conspicuous even among great exploits. He saved six lives with his own hands ; "how many more by his orders and example, it would be impossible to tell."—Another kind of distinction is commemorated in the volume, Successful Business Men, by Alexander H. ,Tapp, assisted by F. W. Holmes (same publishers), George Moore, W. H. Smith, and members of such eminent firms as Sutton's (seed- merchants), Bryant and May, Salt and Sons, and Price's Candle Company, are described. The name of one brewer we should have been inclined to omit. The firm is well known enough, but not exactly, just now, in the most favourable way.
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