Juvenile Literature as It Is. By Edward Salmon. (H. J.
Drane.) —Mr. Salmon has here welded together various articles on the subject published by him in the Fortnightly, Nineteenth Century, &c. Altogether, he gives a satisfactorily complete review of books for boys and girls, and criticises them fairly and judiciously. The first chapter gives the result of that favourite device, a plebiscite. We must confess to a certain distrust of this contrivance, whether used for political or other purposes. Tinder the head of " Favourite Authors," we find 223 votes given to C. Dickens, and one only to the author of " Tom Brown's Schooldays " and Mr. Henty. When we come to favourite books, "Robinson Crusoe " heads the list with 43, though Defoe only receives 24 votes, and "Tom Brown" has 15. There was evidently not a little insincerity about the voting ; and, indeed, Mr. Salmon, in his concluding remarks, recognises as much.
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