Memcries of Some Oxford Pete. Collected by Mrs. Wallace. (B.
H. Blackwell, Oxford. 3e.)—This is a delightful book, fittingly commended to the reader by Mr. Warde Fowler's admirable preface. Dogs, of course, occupy, so to speak, the front benches. It needs no Lex Roscia to secure that for them. Then come three cats, a brown owl, a chameleon, a jerboa, a mouse; a hen, and a rat,—a Japanese rat, it must be understood. These creatures, some of whose histories are written for them , and some written by themselves, furnish us with a feast of good things. First in the list comes ' Oriel Bill,' taking precedence, we presume, with his College. He was " a brindled bulldog of ferocious mien, of undeniable pedigree, of courtly manners," though somewhat eccentric. One of his jokes was to plant him- self in front of a tramcar and defy it, as Ajax defied the lightning. And the tramcar had to stop till he chose to go away. Then Professor and Mrs. Max Muller tell us about "Our Dachshunds." The dachshund is a peculiarly fascinating dog, and ha's a high rank in literature, now that Matthew Arnold has given ' Geist' a place along with Argus.' And the dachshund, happily, lives long, though indeed one may doubt whether this is a blessing, for did not Walter Scott say, when asked why dogs' lives are short, " If they lived longer we could not bear to part with them " ? The writer of this notice has the honour of knowing a dachs who is in his twentieth year, and sprightly still. The other day be went and fetched the cat, who had unaccountably neglected to attend, as usual, at family prayers. But we must not wander on, hard as it is to stop when dogs are the subject. Meanwhile; let lovers of the good and the beautiful read this book.
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