CURRENT LITERATURE.
Luamrious Bathing : a Sketch. By Andrew W. Tuer. With Etchings by Sutton Sharpe. (Field and Tuer.)—A sturdy and shapely bound nass lies before us, ruled with thick gold lines, with deeply embossed lettering of rather coarse printing in black and scarlet, and a little etched river scene on the cover. Inside we have large, old.faemosed letterpress, usually synonymous with 4' right-fashioned," in matters of taste. The web-like, dead Japanese paper softly closes down over some conscientious and acute works of Mr. Sharpe's etching-needle. We are particular in enumerating some of the external qualities of the book, because it is a highly laudable endeavour in the right direction,—a direction removed from that of the flimsy and unsubstantial accompaniments of some books that are, doubtless, in their purport now immortal. We do not take much account of the letterpress, as it is simply a disquisition on the soap-bath," and evidently only an accompaniment to the illustrations. As to the etchings of Mr. Sutton Sharpe, some of them are certainly of considerable artistic merit, For instance, the river seem) asso- ciated with Wordsworth's verso is full of peace :— it Glide gently, thus for ever glide, °Thomas I that other bards may see As lovely visions by thy aide la now, fair River ! 001110 to me."
The artistio qualities of these etchings, at their best, are somewhat prim; but in the finer examples the effects aimed at have been reached BO securely, as to make us feel that Mr. Sharpe has con- sciously subordinated any manual dexterity that might have militated against the power of the plate to bestow fully the requisite impression on the mind. The pond with the water-lilies is very carefully etched, and of true beauty. On the other hand, some of the etchings are not up to the mark, as, for instance, the one associated with Proctor's lines on the sea.
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