Cycle Rides Round London. By Charles G. Harper. (Chapman and
Hall. Os.)—It is a very great pity that Mr. Harper does not keep himself to his proper functions of a guide to cycle-riders. Let him tell them how they are to find their way, warn them where there is a dangerous descent, and even protest, if he thinks fit, against the bad condition in which some parishes or districts are content to leave their roads. Let him also point out woods, parks, houses, landscapes that are worth seeing. All this lies within his proper province. But he is certainly going beyond it when, as on p. 12, he uses very gross language about a certain family which we shall not name. That family have a very different reputation, and Mr. Harper's abuse is a discredit to him, and we cannot but express our wonder that the publishers have per- mitted its appearance. He pronounces, again, on p. 249 a quite absurd censure on some notice-boards warning trespassers which a certain proprietor has found it necessary to put up in his park. Does he not know how the very large liberty allowed in England, and quite unknown on the Continent, is abused ? Apart from this fault, and an incapacity to see a joke (p. 246), the book is sufficiently good.
Previous page
