CURRENT LITERATURE.
Prom the Pyrenees to the Channel in a Dog-Cart. By C. E. Aoland- Troyte. (Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co)—At this time of the year, when we all are taking, or just going to take, our annual holiday, those who like the leisurely pastime of a driving journey might do worse than consult Mrs. Acland-Troyte. They must be prepared to find what she has of useful counsel, embedded in a huge mass of tedious and irrelevant disconrse. What might have been a manageable little hand-book, conoise, pointed, cheap, and portable, has been, by a reckless and unabashed use of padding, expanded into a clumsy volume of more than four hundred pages, printed in large type, on thick paper, with six inches of margin to each page. Putting aside the superfluous discussions of the Basque language, his. tory, and physical peculiarities, the prolonged dissertations on cafd an lad and boiled asparagus, the entire archaeology of the Song of Roland, and much similar stuff, we learn the following more interesting par. ticulars :—Mr. and Mrs. Aoland-Troyte started from S. Jean-de-Luz MI April 3rd, and reached Cherbourg on June 14th. They had thus driven 956 miles, at an average of twenty-two miles a day. The vehicle in which the journey was made was a light two-wheeled dog. cart, of French build, and it was drawn by a French mare just under fifteen hands in height, which performed the whole distance without accident, miss, or hitch. As this is a very remarkable performance, we are disposed to consider Mrs. Aoland-Troyte a "reliable" (to use her own sweet word) authority on the choice and management of roadsters, and we gladly reproduce her counsel. Her first point is,—Do not choose a slug, for his monotonous and im. perturbable regard for his own ease and tranquillity will wear out your patience before the day is over. Next, avoid a horse whose nerves are too highly strung. You will be burdened by the constant need of watchfulness; he will exhaust himself moro by fretting than a steadier horse will do by work, and his temperament interferes with his due food and rest. The ideal horse for a long driving journey is such a one as Mrs. Aoland-Troyte was fortunate enough to secure in her 'Dolly.' At once gentle and free, never needing the whip, with a light month, yet rousing well up to her bit, a good feeder, and always ready to take a doze between feeds, 'Dolly' certainly combined all equine perfeotioas As to the daily distance to be travelled, Mrs. Acland-Troyte considers that it is better to do a moderate amount and keep it up continuously, than to do long distances at a stretch and take more rest between. Twenty-five miles a day for four days, with two or three days' rest, making an advance of a hundred miles a week, is very good travelling ; and a horse gets through it better than ten miles a day more, with four days' rest afterwards. As to feeding, 'Dolly,' a small animal, had ten litres a day, three in the morning, three at noon, and four at night. She was allowed a little green food and water, even during her day's work, care being taken that the water should not be very cold and not drunk in large quantities. A day's supply of oats and a set of shoes were always taken in the carriage, as a precaution against sudden emergencies. As to the expense of this mode of travelling, Mrs. Aoland-Troyte kept careful accounts, which came out at an average of 18s. 6d. a day during the ten weeks of the journey. This certainly cannot be considered excessive for two people and a horse, especially as the long rests of four or five days were made in large towns and at the best hotels. But on a return journey, profiting by experience, our travellers found it quite easy to reduce the daily average to ids. Oct.; and this, it is to be remembered, represents the rent, food, and wages of ordinary life at home, together with the stabling and keep of a horse. For fuller details of this pleasant and interesting tour, we must recommend our readers to the book itself. In spite of a besetting sin in the way of tedious and irrelevant digression, the authoress has much to say that is worth hearing about scenery, arehi. tecture, and local customs. In all such matters she is a sympathetic, intelligent, and lively guide. And she is favourably distinguished from the majority of her travelling countrymen and countrywomen by her reasonable and reverent treatment of the Roman Catholic worship and all that pertains to it. She gives a very accurate state- ment of the points of similarity and of difference between the Mass and our own Eucharistic rite ; she testifies to the fact that, out of some twenty French sermons, she only heard one on any subject connected with the Blessed Virgin ; and she dismisses with suitable contempt an eminent lady novelist of the day, who has recently made this remark. able contribution to liturgical science,—" Vespers, I conclude, is a litany rather than a mass."
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