A Book for a Corner is a selection of short
pieces, or of passages that bear transplanting, with brief introductions in which criticism pre- dominates. Some of the authors are eminent—as Pope, Gray, Goldsmith ; many are of repute, though often little known to the present gene- ration. The choice of pieces is made with a peculiar taste ; being, with a few exceptions, such pieces as are not the chefs-d'eeuvres of their authors, or the authors are not first-rate. Shenstone's " School-Mistress " is found here, and Parnell's " Hermit "; a selection of Steele's stories m made from the Taller, &c.; with some of Addison's papers on Sir Roger de Coverly. Old travellers give up a choice bit here and there; Robinson Crusoe furnishes some striking passages; and there are extracts from tourists, novelists, and letter-writers. We suspect that had the principle which prompted the selection of "The Hermit" and "The School-Mistress " been steadily pursued, a better book would have been made by taking the choicest works of authors who have dropped into some obscurity, than by the plan pursued—that of taking extracts of all sorts, a species of olla podrida, without any other guide than fancy or liking. The general introduction, explaining the purpose of the compilation, is not very remarkable, owing to its want of precision. The little preliminary notices to the extracts from each author are agreeable ; exhibiting in matter a mélange of biography, criticism, and essay-writing, and in style Mr. Hunt's nicety of perception and quaint pleasantry sobered by advancing years.
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