The Vale of Strathmore : its Scenes and Legends. By
J. Cargill Guthrie. (W. Paterson.)—This is a disappointing volume. In appear- ance, in print, binding, size, and general get-up, it is everything that a volume should be, but unfortunately this is almost all that can be said for it. We learn from the advertisements at the end that Mr. Guthrie has written several other books, and from the preface that his present venture is not likely to be his last. The scenes and legends of almost any wide stretch of country, properly told, are almost sure to be readable, and their preservation may frequently be of importance, but Mr. Guthrie has hardly gone the right way to work. He has taken several so-called legends, for whose traditionary existence he gives no authorities, and has interwoven them with his recollections of the "scenes" of his own early life, most of them of an extremely common- place and every-day kind. All of them are related with undue pro- lixity, and are accompanied by the most wearisome moralising. Mr. Guthrie must not expect here the welcome which, if the advertisements are to be trusted, he is likely to get on the other side of the Tweed.
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