CURRENT LITERATURE.
The New Quarterly Magazine. January. (C. Began Paul and Co.) —This number contains many interesting articles, the most important of which is probably the review of " Italian Affairs," the work, it is evident, of a competent and well-informed observer. " Fucinus : a Lost Lake and a New Found Land," tells a story, probably new to many readers, of how Prince Tortonia has drained the Lake Facintu‘ and realised a scheme older than the Christian era. Nearly 40,000 acres of land have been recovered, at a cost of £2,000,000. Readers of Tacitas will remember the picturesque account of the futile opera- tions that were undertaken in the days of Claudius. Mr. Mark Pattison writes a striking article on " Middle-Class Education." Many teachers will accuse it of being vague, but it at least suggests an ideal, which the writer, on the serene eminence which he occu- pies, has peculiar facilities for contemplating. The late Education Commissioners were less fortunate students of the same subject. Mr. Pattison laments their extinction ; but after all, it is necessary to have some regard for the actual.