Scottish Ws and Character in Anecdote and Story. By William
Harvey. (Eneas Mackay, Stirling.)—Rather too large a literature has been produced upon Scottish character as ex- hibited in "good stories"; so much for the extraordinary popularity attained by Dean Ramsay's "Reminiscences." Yet here is another volume of the same kind,—a closely printed one of nearly five hundred pages. Mr. Harvey's industry and enthu- siasm are undoubted, and, indeed, unbounded. He has given us here a surfeit,—or, let us charitably say, a thesaurus. Surely, how- ever, he has dragged too much into his net. Under the compre- hensive title of "The Bairns" it was certainly unnecessary to give us this:—" A boy is always great in natural history. • What is a ruminating animal P' asked a teacher one day. I beast that chews her cubs,' was the answer. A little girl in the same class said that the milk was sour because the milkman had a sour cow."
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