A Little Girl among the Old Masters. With Introduction and
Com- ment, by W. D. Howells. (Osgood and Co., Boston, U.S.; Triibuer and Co., London.)—One may smile to see in this book another example of the cuffus of children which is one of the characteristics of the present age. Our ancestors would have probably thought it a shocking thing to preserve the drawings of a girl of ten. "To what irreverence of elders and betters will not this child come !" they would have thought. Nevertheless, we are glad to see the drawings, and find them curious and interesting. The artist spent some months in Italy, and reproduces here her impressions of the art of picture- galleries and churches. She does not copy, her compositions are original ; but, of course, she is profoundly impressed by what she has seen, and her style shows the influence now of this master or this school, now of that. The change of feeling thus indicated, accompanied continually by a remarkable growth in power of design and in facility of execution, make a very interesting study. And then we have another attraction in Howells' descriptions and ex- planations. He acts as a kindly and entertaining cicerone, sometimes, it mast be allowed, transgressing the strict orders which have been laid upon him, and " making fun " of his subject.
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