Shakespeare's Plutarch. Being a Selection from the Lives in North's Plutarch' which Illustrate Shakespeare's Plays. Edited with a Preface, Notes, Index]of Names, and Glossarial Index, by the Rev. WALTER W. SKEAT, M.A. Macmillan and Co.

Mr. Skeat has supplied-and, of course, in a highly scholarly way-an interesting addition to our Shakespearian library. It is well known that, with the careless freedom of genius, Shakespeare availed himself of plots and suggestions for dialogue wherever he could find them; and a very large element of Shakespearian literature and criticism consists in the examination of Italian and other sources upon which he drew.

He was very largely indebted to Plutarch; how largely, Mr. Skeat shows us in this volume. Sir Thomas North, second son of Edward, Lord North of Kirtling, published his translation of Plutarch,' in a folio volume, in 1579. A second edition appeared in 1595, and five subsequent editions before 1676; after which it was probably superseded by a new translation, for which Dryden wrote a preface in 1683. North made his translations not from the Greek, but from the French version of Jacques Aymott, who is said to have translated from a Latin version. Necessarily, therefore, it was inaccurate, although Aymott's translation was well executed. It is interesting to note Shakespeare's adoption of North's blunders, as also his frequent paraphrase of his vigorous and racy English-the English of our Authorised Version of the Bible. Seven of the Lives' are here reprinted, and Shakespeare's indebtedness to them-in some instances curious in their minuteness, in others, in their extent-will be at once seen by readers of the Roman plays of Julius Cæsar,'' Coriolanus,' and 'Antony ' and Cleopatra.' Mr. Skeat justly refers his readers to the remarks on Shakespeare and Plutarch in Archbishop Trench's Four Lectures on 'Plutarch,' which we recently commended to our readers.

Mademoiselle Josephine's Fridays, and other Stories. By M. BETHAMEDWARDS. (Henry S. King and Co.) We are sorry to have overlooked so long these fresh and piquant stories of Miss Betham-Edwards. They concern art and artist life, and in a good and pure sense, chiefly on the sunny side of it. The descriptions of Mademoiselle Josephine's Friday receptions and of the motley assemblies found]there, with the interweaving of love, conspiracy, and tragedy, and of the Grand Duke's little Court at Weimar, and of Cagliostro's erratic genius, are very clever. The authoress is, however, equally at home Atthe World's End,' on the quiet shores of the Mediterranean, her descriptions of which are very enticing, and in the solitudes of Cumberland. Her stories are carefully finished, although they do not expand beyond the magnitude of sketches. They are light and very pleasant reading.Her Title of Honour. By HOLME Lee. (Henry S. King and Co.) A cheaper edition of one of Miss Parr's most graceful and effective stories. In outline it is the story of Henry Martyn,

the Persian Missionary, and of his love, filled in with the tender and sympathetic imaginations of a writer in warm sympathy with both his religious heroism and his strong human love.The Works of Miss 'Thackeray.' Vol. I., Old Kensington. (Smith, Elder, and Co.) The publishers will lay lovers of good literature under a great obligation by the elegant and compendious edition of Miss Thackeray's works, of which this is the first volume. She contributes to our literature a type as distinct as that of her father; and in the refined thought, the keen observations, the quick but rich imagination, the tender human sympathy and the dainty literary touch of it, it has a charm of its own as great in its way as that of Charles Lamb's. Miss Thackeray's works, like all true works of genius, grow upon us in their reperusal. Than ‘Old Kensington' a more charming sketch has not been given to this generation of readers. -Culmshire Folk. By IGNOTUS. (Henry S. King and Co.) We can only mention this cheap edition of a novel which has won very unusual commendations from all its literary critics. Its author has been more than once compared with George Eliot, and deemed superior to Anthony Trollope. Our own high judgment was expressed in no measured terms when the first edition appeared. Lady Culmshire may fairly claim to be an original contribution to the picture-gallery of fiction. Pilgrimage to

Saint Mary of Walsingham and Saint Thomas of Canterbury; with the Colloquy on Rash Vows, and the Characters of Archbishop Warham and Dean Colet. By DESIDERIUS ERASMUS. Newly Translated, with an Introduction and Illustrative Notes, by JOHN GOUGH NICHOLS, F.S.A. Second Edition. Revised and Corrected. (John Murray.) Mr. Nichols proves the first visit of Erasmus to the shrine of Walsingham by the details of his description. He thinks, however, that the second was pos sibly only an imaginary one, devised for setting forth the perplexities which his votive Greek inscription had caused the ignorant monks. He identifies Dean Colet as his companion in his visit to Canterbury. Mr. Nichols purposed merely to present a translation of these little-known colloquies, of which none more modern than that of Bailey, the lexicographer, exists. But the revival of pilgrimages has given additional importance to Erasmus's keen satire. It is humbling to think that it should again have pertinence. Mr. Nichols was revising his translation for this new edition just before he died. Lovers of learned, witty, merciless satire will rejoice in it. The notes and illustrations by Mr. Nichols are a valuable addition.

-A Winter Story. By the Author of The Rose Garden.' (Smith, Elder, and Co.) A story from the wise and graceful pen of this writer is always welcome. Few who have read The Rose Garden' will forget its spell. The present story is not equal to it, but it is written with a good deal of thoughtful wisdom and delicate discrimination. It is a kind of psychological study, tracing the influences, chiefly of two children, which gradually chased away a morbid feeling caused by an accidental mistake in giving a draught which proved fatal. There is but the slenderest thread of story, but the interest in the moral process never fails.

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CHRISTMAS BOOKS.

The Orphan of Pimlico; and other Sketches, Fragments, and Drawings. By WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY. With some Notes, by ANNE ELIZABETH THACKERAY. Smith, Elder, and Co.

The sweepings of Thackeray's study are gold-dust. One sighs to be told of unpreserved scraps and sketches, which seemed to have flowed as from a perennial fountain, and were therefore permitted to perish in the nursery. Miss Thackeray has here been incited to produce some sketches which have been preserved, of greater maturity and completeness than the pleasant volume recently compiled from school-book covers and bookmargins, under the title of 'Thackerayana.' We would not spare either. No admirer of Thackeray can regret the publication of that volume; and yet we can understand both the filial and the artistic feeling that has been provoked into the publication of this. All kinds of imaginary scenes, grotesque figures, and wild fancies are here reproduced, most of them accompanied with facsimile annotations or suggestions of scenes,— from the fully-outlined 'Orphan of Pimlico' to the miscellaneous contents of a scribbling-sheet. The famous gold pen seems rarely to have been at rest, and all kinds of pictorial and literary fancies flowed from it—Shakespeare at the feet of Elizabeth, for instance: ""My name, 'tis William; 'but how shall I call you?" He stooped down; she kissed him on his 'monumental forehead. "Call me Betsie," she said.' Some of the drawings are finished pictures, and of an order of excellence that justifies the author's application to furnish illustrations to one of Dickens's works, and that produces upon us the impression that we have as yet very inadequately estimated Thackeray's artistic powers. Had Thackeray not been a great author, he would have taken no mean rank as an artist. The book has an additional interest from the fact that all Thackeray's own annotations are in facsimile. Miss Thackeray's notes are brief, but sufficient for information. The book is elegantly got up as a drawing-room table-book, and, of course, is a good deal more than a mere artistic amusement. We cannot attempt any indication of its miscellaneous and affluent humour. All kinds of sketches and fancies are to be found in itEnglish, American, and French,--and they bear a good deal of looking at. Leaves from a Sketch-Book: Pencillings of Travel at Home and Abroad. By SAMUEL READ. Sampson Low and Co.

Mr. Read does not aim at being exhaustive, and perhaps he therein shows more wisdom than most people who have power both with pen and pencil. He leisurely notes this or that as he passes along, whether in France, Spain, Italy, the Low Countries, or in Scotland. He makes a careful, loving study of it, and sometimes by the merest outline he is more suggestive than others would be in an ambitious rendering of the whole details and surroundings. And he is right in putting forward in the preface a modest claim for a certain unity in his casual pencillings.'

In many old cities, old castles, abbeys, and churches of this and foreign 'lands, which the writer has examined, the architecture and the situa'tion bear tokens of past social and national history;' and the very unpretending yet valuable letterpress certainly does match well with his pencillings in this respect, and will be found of a kind to set the inquiring reader off into many fresh tracts of thought and observation; and all this without in the least sacrificing the element of delight,' which should be the first thing in a gift-book, as this is meant to be. We turn over the pages, admire the delicacy of the outline of that bit of shadow, and end with a sigh, wishing we could but re-travel many of the old towns it calls to mind. This will doubtless be the feeling of not a few in looking through this handsome volume, and therefore we cordially commend it to the attention of purchasers of such books at this season. It is at once tasteful, instructive, and beautiful in exterior,—and what more can be said?

The Land of the Pharaohs: Egypt and Sinai. Illustrated by Pen and Pencil. By the Rev. SAMUEL MANNING, LL.D., Author of Those Holy Fields,' 'Italian Pictures,' Spanish Pictures,' &c. Religious Tract Society.

Dr. Manning has written freshly of scenes and places which are much 'done' by tourists; and now and then, when he is a little more beyond the ordinary track, he is really powerful. He has served a good apprenticeship to work of this kind, and it may be said of him that, while he never sacrifices dignity in retailing the trifling gossip of the journey, he does. occasionally cast a very interesting glance into the social conditions of those amongst whom he moves; and sometimes he throws a gleam of humour around the strange, or squalid, or repellent things that he meets. The anecdote of the Arab, the opera-glass, and the two wives at the Great Pyramid, is very good indeed. Dr. Manning has been privileged to have to deal with such exquisite specimens of wood engraving as we have here, and his letterpress is a worthy companion. This adds another to a very delightful series of volumes which do not pretend to original discovery or research, but which are so picturesque and vivacious, and full of wise and hearty remark, that, in some aspects at least, they may be pronounced better than if they were never so learned. Dr. Manning, in a word, cannot help sympathetically touching the reader to a more kindly interest in the ignorant, prejudiced, and often superstitious peoples amongst whom he has travelled-the highest influence any book of travel can have. Homes and Haunts of Luther. By JOHN STOUGHTON, D.D. Religious Tract Society.

Dr. Stoughton is perfectly at home in the antiquarian commission with which he seems to have charged himself, and of which this very pleasant volume is the result. Through a series of years he visited the numerous and wide-spread haunts of the great Reformer, making descriptive sketches and picking up bits of information, testing and shaping the latter

by the best historical authorities, from Melancthon, Mathesius, and Seckendorf, to Michelet, D'Aubigné, and Dr. Waddington. Of course there is nothing new to be said about Luther, but often as every detail of his marvellous history has been retold, we have no book exactly like this a series of sketches, with profuse pictorial illustrations, and skilfully interwoven anecdotes of the various places associated with his name. Dr. Stoughton writes pictorially and gracefully. A more interesting giftbook will hardly be forthcoming for the season.

Beauty and the Beast: an Old Tale New Told. With Pictures. By E. V. B. Sampson Low and Co.

Mrs. Bligh scarcely succeeds in attaining to the style of simple archaism which the old story demands. Every now and then a modern idiom dispels the illusion that is gathering over us, and we feel that it is a modern telling of an olden story. Nevertheless, it works its spell, and we read it with almost as much interest as we did in the nursery. The illustrations are very effective; they have not the exquisite delicacy of the illustrations to 'The Story without an End.' The colouring sometimes verges on the sensational, nor is the drawing faultless—e.g., Beauty on p. 50 has a very long arm-but they are bold and clear, and well designed. Altogether, it is a very beautiful gift-book for young folks, which those who are older will not disdain to look through.

The Sylvan Year: Leaves from the Note-Book of Raoul Dubois. By PHILIP GILBERT HAMERTON. With Twenty Etchings by the Author and other Artists. Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday.

Raoul Dubois is a naturalist created by Mr. Hamerton as the narrator of his slender story, and as the describer of the exquisite pictures of woodland and other natural scenery which it is the object of the volume to present and illustrate. Mr. Hamerton rightly thinks that, while to the man of science nature may be a subject for purely scientific analysis, to the artist nature cannot be adequately estimated apart from human life and its experiences. Dubois is created, therefore, as a kind of healthy Obermann; not like his prototype, the victim of ennui, enduring hopeless suffering, but cheered and strengthened in suffering by the inspirations of external nature, although Mr. Hamerton is conscious enough that it needs a more potent inspiration than that of nature to minister adequate consolation in human sufferings, and to make them minister to what in man is noblest and highest. The literary charm of the book is its descriptive passages, which are artistically inspired, and written in a nervous, beautiful way. The twelve months of the year are made to exhibit their characteristic phenomena. It claims to be one of the drawing-room books of the year in virtue of its very effective etchings, of which Mr. Hamerton himself contributes eight, A Lançon, A. Greux, E. Hédouin, G. Greux, and L. Mossard, the rest. These can hardly be criticised in detail save with reader; they can only be characterised, those of Mr. Hamerton especially, as of a very high order. The group of ancient

the book before the