30 JUNE 1900, Page 38

()Iloilo, Old and New. By C. Sellers. With Illustrations. (H.

E. Harper. .el ls.)—The title given above really resolves itself into a history of the port wine trade and the various merchants who have made, and been made by, port. A descrip- tion of the town is followed by historical and biographical notices of these families, with several portraits. With these details are incorporated matters not exactly connected with them,—for in- stance, Wellington's passage of the Douro, an account of the Royal houses of Portugal, and a long account of Balaclava by that Colonel Sandeman who rode in the charge of the Heavy Brigade, and who thus links Balaclava with " Sandeman's tawny port." But these digressions may be forgiven in a work published privately and confessedly of no literary importance, as also such a remark as a reference to the King of Portugal "as one of the most illustrious men of his age." To those interested in Oporto the book will be interesting, though we are sorry to tell lovers of port wine that they will find very little about that noble beverage. Doubtless it is a trade secret, so Mr. Sellers has had to keep severely to the historical features of his subject.