Down Channel, by IL T. McMullen (Longmans), is a record
of some twenty years' cruising in miniature yachts, told in a very simple, pleasant manner, without any odious affectation of being funny. A voyage in which a very slight failure in watchfulness or strength would probably be fatal is an amusement of the highest kind, when amuse- ments are to bo estimated by the danger they involve. There is a good deal to be said for the theory. We should probably become utterly unnerved by the life of civilization if we did not sometimes brace our- selves up in this way. Those who would rather find this exhilarating peril in the sea than in the Alps cannot do better, we should think,—the opinion is a purely speculative one,—than take Mr. McMullen as a guide. He tells us without any sort of bragging what risks ho has run, and may point to the fact of his having survived as a testimonial to his practical skill.
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