Summer Holidays in Brittany. By Thos. J. Hutchinson. (Sampson Low
and Co.)—Brittany is a country so little known here and so inter- esting in itself, that we should have gladly welcomed a good book on the subject, but wo cannot say much in favour of the work before us. If it were not that we are kindly informed in the preface that part of this volume has appeared in the columns of a newspaper, we should be inclined to ask what can be the meaning of such expressions as " a musty ambient," but the readers of the Liverpool Weekly Albion no doubt enjoy their little bit of "gash" as much as we Cockneys. Tho writer is evidently a great traveller, and sometimes coins such a cosmopolitan sentence as "do trop of a toujours perdrix." Again, we are informed. that "vin ordinaire," which we have been accustomed to regard as a very harmless beverage, is a " condiment," which, of course, at once explains the deterioration in the French nation. We are told a groat deal of Breton history, but when the wife of our own Lion-heart is described as Berongarie. of Castille we almost doubt whether the author's French is more reliable than his English history. Tho most interesting part of the book is that concerning pilgrimages, but we cannot assent to the assertion that any " educational influence " worthy of reasonable beings is effected by any number of journeys to the scenes of so-called miracles. We should not forget to mention that we have concise and intelligible directions as to how to get to Brittany, which we should be thankful for, if for nothing else.
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