In the series of "Sir Walter Scott's Continuous Readers" (A.
and C. Black), "The Talisman" has been followed up by Quentin Durward, edited by H. W. Ord, M.A. An introduction sketches European history up to the time of the story, and explains the special circumstances which furnish the occasion for it. Sir Walter Scott's departures from historical accuracy, all of them really harmless accommodations of chronology (harmless, that is, if duly pointed out), are mentioned, and there is a small but sufficient annotation at the end. Our best wishes go with this effort to rescue young readers from the desultory and dissipating reading to which they are given up,—the weekly and monthly collections of scraps, facetiEe, and foolish stories. 'There is no harm in them,' it will be answered. Perhaps not, if it is not harm to "make continuous mental effort either an intolerable burden or an actual impossibility."
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