17 MAY 1879, Page 24

Songs and Lyrics for Little Lips. (W. Wells Gardner ;

and Metzler and Co.)—It is hard to find fault with such a beautiful-looking book, and one, too, which contains so many old favourites, and a few good new ones ; but there is often in its tone, both in the pictures and the verses, a certain artificiality,—a sort of self-consciousness, the absence of which in true children constitutes one of their sweetest charms. They do not pose or attudinise, and the longer they can remain simple and natural in their play and in all their religious acts the better. Still, it is a splendid book, and its sailor-songs seem especially pleasing. The music is prettily melodious, but many of the intervals are too difficult for quite young children.