6 OCTOBER 1888, Page 23

A Ride through Syria, by Edward Abram (Abram and Sons),

covers familiar ground, describing for us once more Joppa, Mount Oarmel, Tiberias, Damascus (which, it seems, "must for ever ramain the mother-city of the world"), Baalbec, Beyrilt, &c., and is written in a somewhat Baedeker style. But there is no padding in it ; the author describes the places he actually saw, and as he saw them. Mr. Abram must be careful with his quotations. "As mild a looking man as ever cut a throat" surely spoils a hackneyed Byronism.