The Crystal City under the Sea. Translated from the French
of Andre Laurie. (Sampson Low and Co.)—Andre Laurie has not a little of the fantastic imagination of Jules Verne, and there certainly could hardly be anything more wildly improbable than this story of the adventures of the young officer, Rene Caoudal, who falls overboard, and in due course finds himself in a crystal city, and in love with a Greek girl named Atlantes. Some of the adventures seem a trifle too improbable, and M. Laurie's Monte Cristo is somewhat of a disappointment after the great creation of Dumas. At the same time, the story as a whole is well told, and almost all of the secondary characters, at all events, are carefully sketched.
Cassell's Family Magazine for 1896 is a very delightful miscel- lany, and makes a very handsome volume. The magazine has of late is been modernised in all departments in such a manner as to make it a very formidable rival to the various monthlies ostensibly full of what is termed " smartness " that have sprung into existence during the last ten years. It retains, however, its old suitability for family reading ; there is not a suggestion of vulgarity in it. The two leading stories, " The Missing Witness " and " A Puritan's Wife," are admirable examples of the widely different arts of Mr. Frank Barrett and Mr. Max Pemberton. The most striking feature, perhaps, of the more promiscuous contents of the magazine is the attention that is paid in them to the amusements of both sexes. The illustrations are numerous, admirable, and not too broadly humorous.
Young readers are accustomed to have a volume, or, we should rather say, several volumes, yearly from Mr. Alfred H. Miles, full of excellent reading. One we have already noticed ; now we have before us 52 Stories of Pluck and Peril for Boys and 52 Stories of Pluck and Peril for Girls, edited by Alfred H. Miles (Hutchin- son and Co.) In both the stories are classified. In the first volume, for instance, we have "At Home and at School," "Hunter and Trapper," "Soldier and Sailor," "Earth, Air, Fire, and Water," " Historical Tales." In both, too, old as well as new sources have been drawn upon. The editor has done his work well. No one can reasonably complain of either the quantity or the quality of the provision made.—For Duty's Sake, by M. Douglas (Jerrold and Sons), is a collection of " Stirring Stories of Noble Lives." The persons selected are Lord Shaftesbury, Nelson, Father Damien, Sister Dora, John Howard, and Sir John Franklin.
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