CURRENT LITERATURE.
The Adventures of a Griffin on a Voyage of Discovery. Written by Himself. (Bell and Daldy.)—This is a pleasant, lively book of travel, taking us in an exploring ship to Madeira, the Cape of Good Hope, Van Diemen's Land, and Australia. The illustrations are generally better than the narrative, which is not free from the vice of straining after effeot and amusement. To call a young lad Griffin or Green- horn, a midshipman Rattlebrain, and a lieutenant Jollydog does not need a keen sense of humour; but it gives a book a sprightly air, which has to be kept up at the expense of sounder reflections. Still, the story of Griffin's voyage is told with spirit; would make a good gift- book for boys, and may fairly be borrowed from them by their elders.
A Martyr to Bibliography : a Notice of the Life and Works of Joseph Marie Querard. By Cipher Hama, Esq. (J. Russell Smith.)—This is a curious pamphlet-biography, reversing the usual order. M. Qudrard's works are treated as the subject, and M. Querard himself as something that grew out of his works. Perhaps the strangest feature of all is that the index is made a sort of supplement, in which anything that has not been said in the body of the work is added incidentally. Thus, a good story about a French author who translated the name of "White Knights" (Lord Blandford's place) Le Chevalier Blanc appears in the index under its author's name. An attack on the Athencewn for not having a general index is supplemented in the 1310113 way by a further paragraph. We are afraid people will be too much amused by the biographer's eccentricities to pay proper attention to his subject, which is much to be regretted for the sake of Querard, and may delay the public recognition of him which is demanded by his eminent services to bibliography.
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