CURRENT LITERATURE.
The third number of the Scottish Review is marked by strength and solidity, and what, for want of a better word, we may call " Scotchi- mess." These are especially the characteristics of two excellent papers, on"Early Scottish Burghs" and "Archaeology in the South-West of Scotland," which are evidently the productions of men who are fami- liar with their subjects. There are good things in two moderate articles, on " Educational Endowments and Secondary Education" and "The Future of the Highlands," though they strike us as rather thin and hesitating. The most vigorous as well as the best written paper, however, is one on Lord Macaulay, which is really a very good piece of special pleading against Mr. Cotter Morison. The "husband's case " is very well stated in " Mrs. Carlyle's Letters," and we are glad to see Agnosticism treated by a thoughtful Scotchman, who has no weakness for pulpiteering. A word of cordial praise is due to the "Summaries of Foreign Reviews ;" in regard to these the Scottish Review sets an example that older magazines would do well to follow. By the way, why does not the Review give ns some indication of the view taken by reflective men North of the Tweed of the " Horne- t-ale" movement there, which might help English politicians in coming to a decision upon a question in respect of which their sympathy with Scotchmen is greater than their knowledge of Scotch wants ?
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