Tales of Filial Love. By T. H. Barran. (Darton and
Hodge.) — Very good tales, a trifle overstrained in language and sentiment, but with a good moral, and of some interest. Some of them read like trans- lations from the French, but that may be only a result of the sentiment which pervades them, and which is somehow a little more self-conscious and unctuous in expression than the relation of child to parents in England. English children very seldom indeed "sound the depths of -neir own hearts ;" when they do, they either become morbid or prigs. Ishmael the Yezidee. By Mrs. J. B. Webb. Author of Naomi. tDarton and Hodge.)—Naomi was with a certain class a very great success, and so may Ishmael the Yezidee be. It is a pleasing narrative, and Mrs. Webb understands and can convey in part the outside impres- sion of Oriental life. To ourselves the misconception of the character of the Yezidees, who are described as a semi-Christian, semi-Jewish sect, destroys the necessary impression of reality, but to the readers for whom the book is intended that will be no drawback. All such books must be beneficial, for they teach children to believe that in every faith is the seed of good and the possibility of ultimately arriving at higher truth, and they teach them also that there exist in the world forms of society differing entirely from that which they believe the only one. They cannot learn either lesson too soon, and Mrs. Webb may teach it to those who object to the Arabian Nights, or stories without a direct, religious flavour. The book, like most of those issued by this publisher is beautifully printed.
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