CURRENT LITERATURE.
CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR'S BOOKS,, ETC. Risen by Perseverance; or, Lives of Self-made Men. By Robert Cochrane. (Nimmo and Co.)—The biographies here set forth are those of Franklin, Brindley, Cobbett, Hugh Miller, Sir Titus Salt, and Charles Dickens. Writers who make it their trade to "compile" books would do well, as a rule, to keep their own original matter as much as possible in the background. Mr. Cochrane's book is enter- taining and useful just in so far as his own hand does not appear in it. When, as is especially the ease in the biography of Dickens, he discourses in language proper to himself, he reminds us of Coleridge's City meg- nate and the dumplings. Nevertheless, the book may be recommended. —Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. By Charles Macfarlane. (Routledge and Sons.)—Lives of Napoleon, if not as thick as autumnal leaves in Vallombrosa, or as plentiful as London sparrows, are superabundant, and the only excuse for adding to the number would be the discovery of fresh sources of information or additional facts. Mr. Macfarlane's book has no such excuse, and is not written up to date. Such as it is, however, it is readable, if not reliable. The King of Saxony is stigmatised as a "virile lattd,"—a term of opprobrium which may be very terrible, if it has any meaning at all. Forty-nine illustrations, by Horace Vornot, Raffet, and others, add to the attractions of the Voyages. By W. II. G. Kingston. (Routledge and Sons.)—A. collection of those voyages which should always be a source of delight to all properly minded boys. From Columbus to Dampier, Vasco da Gama to Cook, Magalbaeus to Parry, the history of the world's discoverers is here set forth, Some of the stories suffer from the unavoidable compression, and loso their flavour as hay does under similar circumstances ; but on the whole, the work is well done. The book is certainly not embellished by a number of illustrations, many of which appear to be old friends.— Voyages of Vasco da Gama. By George M. Towle. (Routledge and Sons.)—Mr. Towle has found a good subject, has digested it well, and has told his story in simple and picturesque words. The career of Vasco da llama is precisely suited for boys' reading ; and we venture to say that this version of it will make young readers wish that Mr. Towle would address them again. The illustrations are, upon the whole, better than we are accustomed to in this kind of publications. —Episodes of the Sea in Former Days. (Blackie and Son.)—Any parent who is troubled with an imaginative son with a craving for a seafaring life would do well to present him with this book. It con- sists of narratives of shipwrecks, mutinies, and disasters at sea, with the sufferings and privations incident thereto, some of the details bordering on the ghastly. The compiler has done his work fairly well, but the result, as" a book for boys," cannot be regarded as a success.—Wellington's Victories, from Raica to Waterloo. By W. H. Davenport Adams. (Routledge.)—The novelty of a book of this kind consists more in what is left out than in what is put in. Mr. Adams has 'inserted an elaborate dedication to the Duke of Cam- bridge; and a preface, which declares that he has "sought to tell the story of Wellington's campaigns in language free from elaborate military technicalities." Boys always like to read about battles, but we are not sure whether they do not find the technicalities as entertaining as the rest of it. If children were made happy only by what they understood, they would have a hard time of it. The book is illustrated by two or three very ancient wood- cuts, not much like life, but a good deal like John Gilbert The Boys' Own Annual, edited by James Macaulay, M.A., M.D. (" Leisure Hour" Office), is the name given to a very excellent weekly paper, which gives us an abundance of excellent reading at a very low price. We have seen nothing of the kind better worth the price that is charged for other magazine volumes, we have the Stenday at Home, the Leisure Hour, the Day of Rest.—A Neck- lace of Stories. By Monenre D. Conway. With illustrations by W. J. Hennessey. (Chatto and Windus.)—These stories are well written, well illustrated, and the book is got up in a style that makes it suitable for a present.—The Bible Autograph Birthday Book. By E. L. M. (Sampson Low and Co.)--The floral illustrations, magnificently got up on tinted paper, are uncommonly true to nature, the letterpress and borders are neatly printed in two colours, and the binding corresponds with the general get-up.—We have also to acknow- ledge the receipt of a now edition of Mary Cowden Clarko's Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines, condensed by her sister, Sabrillo /Covello, and illustrated by nine permanent photo- graphs, from pictures by T. F. Dicksee and W. S. Her- rick (Bickers and Son) ; Episodes of Discovery in AU Ages (Blaokie and Son) ; The Catholic Birthday Book (Burns and Oates) ; new edition of The Boy's Own Book of Sports and Pastimes ; Sun- day Reading for the Young (W. Wells Gardner), with more than four hundred pages, and upwards of two hundred illustrations ; and Faithful Words for Old and Young (Alfred Holmes).—Peter Parley's Annual for 1880. With numerous coloured Illustrations. (B. George.)—This is really an annual, that is to say, it is not a volume of collected magazine numbers assuming the name. The quality of its contents is sufficiently good, and the reader has anyhow the satisfaction of knowing that he has not seen the articles before. Why does the writer of the article on "The Death of Louis Quatorze " speak of "Sir James Baker, the Nile explorer ?"— Invalids Abroad : Hints on, Travelling, Nursing, and Cooking. By E. Bibby. (Hatchards.)—This is likely to be a very useful little book, containing as it does a number of hints and suggestions which are net so obvious as they may seem, for promoting the comfort and health of 'invalids abroad." The benefit of more clement skies than ours is often half-undone by the petty discomforts in the matter of food and firing, not to mention other things. Miss Bibby will help the friends of the sick to get over their difficulties, and to add im- mensely—for who can measure the aggregate of these daily and hourly occurring trifles P—to the comfort of their charge. We may suggest that the book would be a kindly and useful Christmas present to make to any one who may be seeking health in the Riviera or Agliers, or any other health-resort of the South.
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