CURRENT LITERATURE.

Assvanita the correctness of Sir Charles Napier's dictum that "by reading you will be distinguished ; without it your abilities will be of little use," the best advice we can give to all young military men is, to procure a copy of Sir Edward Cust's "Annals of the Wars of the 18th century," a cheap and portable edition of which has just been issued by Mr. Murray.* Distinguished alike as an accomplished officer and a vigorous writer, Sir Edward deserves well of his country for his extremely able and even fasci- nating records of the martial achievements of the British army during a century of mingled triumphs and disasters. Strictly impartial, he never attempts to gloss a blunder or a defeat, or, more Gallica, to claim a repulse as a victory. Thoroughly in earnest, his style is a model of pure, manly English, undefiled by foreign affectations or fashionable conceits. His narrative is ever fluent and perspicuous, oftentimes picturesque, but never defaced by the exaggerations of what is called graphic writing. The author himself modestly disclaims the presumption of calling himself an historian, but few have a better right to do so. His book, he says, was "not written for the library of the learned, but for the use of officers, whether on ship- board or in barracks ; to occupy the leisure of the night-watch and the guard ; to enter infe-the conversation of the quarter-deck or the march, of the wardroom or the messroom." For all these purposes it is eminently fitted ; nor will civilians refuse their meed of gratitude to the gallant veteran who thus devotes the sunset of life to commemorating the glorious exploits of departed heroes.

A patriotic Scot disgusted with a prevailing error to the disparagement of Scotsmen of the present century as being devoid of martial spirit has taken the trouble to compile the statistics of the true Scottish Regiments from 1808 to 18614 From this it appears that Scotland has neves ceased to contribute to the national forces in a larger proportion thaii either Eng- land or Ireland, and notwithstanding the heavy drain upon the population, caused by the Crimean and Indian wars, and by emigration, recruits are even now obtained with astonishing facility. Thus; in six years and nine months, terminating with the last day of 1859, England furnished 151,942 recruits (independently of 2395 from Wales), or 8421 per million ; Ireland 71,557, or 10,736 per million ; and Scotland 33,019, or 11,614 per million. The little island of Sky, which is only 45 miles long and 15 broad, seems to be remarkable above all other parts of the kingdom for" the martial ten- dencies of its inhabitants. In the first forty years of the present century it sent forth, pro patrffi mori, 21 lieutenant and major generals, 45 lieuten- ant-colonels, 600 majors, captains, and subalterns, 10,000 privates, and 120 pipers, besides supplying 4 governors of British colonies, 1 governor- general, 1 adjutant-general, 1 chief baron of England, and 1 judge of the Supreme Court of Scotland. To military men generally we can honestly commend this little pamphlet, as containing much curious information on the subject to which it relates.

One of the most remarkable works of the period is, undoubtedly, Mr. Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor,t the final volume of which has at length issued from the press. In this we learn much more than we care to know about thieves, prostitutes, swindlers, and beggars, a subject of immense importance to legislators and philosophers; but, it may be hoped, not much to the taste of quiet re- spectable stay-at-home folks. The introductory essay by the Reverend William Tuchniss on the agencies at present in operation for the sup- pression of vice and crime in the metropolis, gives one a favourable idea of the amount of practical benevolence at work in London, though still too feeble to grapple with the appalling viciousness that is resealed in the sub- sequent sections of the volume.

To the department of educational works M. Schneider§ contributes a French Conversation-Grammar and a French Reader, primarily designed for the use of the Edinburgh High School, but admirably adapted for all students of that language. In many respects these elementary books are superior to any with which we are acquainted, though not a few have at one time or other passed under our notice. Many an Edinburgh High School boy

• Annals of the Wars of the 18th Century. By the Hon. Sir .Edward Ctuit, D.C.L, Lient-GeneraL 'In 5 vole. John Murray. t An Account of the Scottish Regiments, with the Statistics of each, from 1808 to March, 1861. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. j London Labour and the London Poor. A Cyclopedia of the conditions and earn- ings of those that will work, those that cannot work, and those that will not work. By Henry Mayhew. Griffin, Bohn, and Co.

§ The Edinburgh High School New Practical French Reader. By C. H. Schneider, F.E.I.S. A. and C. Black.

The Edinburgh High School French Conversation-Grammar. By C. H. Schneider, A. and C. Black.

will be pleased to learn that the inaugural addresses of Principal Lee' have been collected into a small volume, to which is affixed Lord Neaves's brief memoir of that learned and estimable man. Of Dr. Sullivan's English Dictionaryt it may suffice to say that it has reached a twelfth edition. Originally intended to " supply the teachers and pupils of the National Schools in Ireland with a complete Dictionary of the English language at a price commensurate with their humble means," it has suc- ceeded, through the union of excellence with cheapness, in commanding a large circulation, and which is rather likely to increase than diminish. It seems that there has been an "obvious void" in the abridged histories of France up to the present time, and this chasm is now bridged over by an anonymous scribe,: who professes to have incorporated the researches of recent historians. It must be admitted that he has prepared a very service- able resume of the history of France, omitting, however, everything that could serve as an index to character, or throw any new light upon obscure points. The woodcuts, too, though highly suggestive, are hard and stiff, and yet it is a book to be placed with advantage in the hands of juvenile readers. A far superior work is Mr. Edgar's Chapters of Modern His- tory,§ though the illustrations are not worthy of much commendation. Mr. Edgar has long since made his mark among the men of the times as a writer endowed with generous and chivalrous feelings, a pure and noble mind, and a manly and genial disposition. His narratives are not only truthful in themselves, but they inculcate the necessity of truth, and, indeed, of all the ineffable but appreciable qualities that are the appanage of gentle blood. His style, too, is clear, vigorous, simple, and unaffected, and from the first page to the last the reader is instinctively conscious of standing in the presence of a gentleman and a scholar. Though writing more especially for the benefit of the rising generation, Mr. Edgar pos- sesses the enviable talent of attracting at the same time the attention of young men and greybeards, and of so describing events as to suggest many a topic for grave reflection. His last is certainly not his least work, and not only confirms but enhances his previous reputation as an earnest, agree- able, high-minded, and reliable chronicler of human achievements and human follies and failures. Taking leave of Mr. Edgar, we find ourselves face to face with Julius Cesar, or at least with the Oxford pocket edition of his "Commentaries., We presume that it is scarcely needful at the present day to write a very erudite review of the writings of " the divine Jules," as a French Academician would probably designate the "uncle of his nephew." It may, therefore, satisfy all parties, if we acknowledge that the present edition is closely printed, thoroughly portable, and very reason- able in price. Transcendent statesman, mighty warrior, as he was, it is quite possible that Julius Csesar, "Imperator," knew less of the common sights in the heavens—even of the " red planet Mars"—than does Captain A .W.Draytion, R.A.1 Avoiding scientific terms as much as possible, and making free use of the pencil to illustrate the pen, this philosophical artillery officer has con- trived to supplant both the telescope that points at the moon from the entrance to St. Clement's Inn, and also " the optick glass " through which the Pad- dingtonian youths view at evening from the base of St. Pancras Church "rivers or mountains in her spotty globe." The thanks of the uninitiated and the profane are due to Captain Drayson for his perfectly intelligible descriptions of the celestial bodies and atmospheric phenomena. And yet far more grateful should we feel for Messrs. Sowerby and Jobnstone's invaluable and charming little work on the poisonous plants of Great Bri- tain.** The illustrations are really beautiful, though it jars upon one's fancy to find the Daffodil, the Narcissus, the Laburnum, the Hyacinth, and even the Buttercup among the enemies of the human race. It is a book to be purchased for purposes of frequent and familiar reference.

In spite of the civil war in North America, of the scandalous Wind. ham case, and of the wrathful denunciations of the provincial Paterfamilias, the " Essayists and Reviewers" still command an audience. Learned lay- men are as eager as regular divines to play the part of St. George towards this seven-headed dragon, and, it must be confessed, with very little better success. The Right Honourable Joseph Napier, late Lord Chancellor of Ireland, is the latest preux chevalier who has sought to transfix the hateful monster, but this new champion of orthodoxy is content to stand aloof, and hurl his feeble weapons from afar: in other words, he has written an introduction to the Reverend John Nash Griffin's Seven Answere,tt which originally appeared in the London Review, and are now reprinted as a separate volume, after the fashion of the day. The hydra is still unslain, and seemingly unscotched.

Year by year one million copies of the English translation of the Holy Scriptures issue from the press. To speak correctly, there are one hundred and fifty versions, but all agreeing on essential points. The first translator of the Book of Life into the vernacular was Wm. Tyndale, and its first editor John Rogers, the Marian protomartyr. The history of this extraordinary achievement is one full of deep interest for all Protestant men and women wherever the-English language is spoken, and through the patient in- dustry of the Messrs. Anderson, uncle and nephew, they are now enabled to gratify their natural and rational curiosity.:: Three young men, having six weeks to spare, wisely resolved to spend their time in foreign travel, and avoiding the usual beaten tracks, visited Stockholm, St. Petersburg, and Moscow. They could not have done better, but surely there was no occasion to make a book, or to bore their neigh- bours with an account of their limited wanderings. One of the triad, however—apparently a Welshman and a Cantab—has grievously sinned in this manner, and published to the world his own self-sufficiency.§§ If this sort of thing is put up with without a word of remonstrance, we shall ere long have every Cheapaide shop-boy recounting his adventures on'Ampstead- 'eath, and telling with unaspirated verbiage how he clomb to the summit of Primrose-'ill.

• Inaugural Addresses in the University of Edinburgh. By the late John Lee, D.D., LL.D. Wm. Blackwood and Sons.

t A Dictionary of the English Language, for the Use of Schools and for General Refe- rence. By Robert Sullivan, LL.D., T.C.D. M. and J. Sullivan.

A History of France, from the Earliest Times to the Establishment of the Second Em- pire in 1852. John Murray.

§ Memorable zrfati of Modern History. By J. C. Edgar. Wm. H. Allen and Co. it Gait Juni Ctesaris Commentarii de Bello Gallic°. J. H. and J. Parker. The Common Sights in the Heavens, and How to see and Know them. By Captain A. W. Drayson, R.A. Chapman and Hall.

** British Poisonous Plants. Illustrated by J. E. Sowerby. Described by C. and C. P. Johnson. John Van Voorst

ft Seven Answers to the Seven Essays and Reviews. By JOhn Nash Griffin, M.A. Longman and Co. jj The Annals of the English Bible. By Christopher Anderson. Revised by Hugh Anderson. Jackson, Walford, and Hodder.

§§ The Northers' Circuit ; or, Brief Notes of Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Macmillan and Co.