359. The Child’s Pilgrimage. By Frances Clare. (Skeffington) 2s. 6d.
Pretty little allegories and semi-allegories for children, tenderly and gracefully touched, though it is a pity the child’s departed spirit is called an angel.
360. A Beleaguered City. By Mrs. Oliphant. (Macmillan) 6s. There is something so deep and solemn in this book, founded on ‘Though one went unto them from the dead they will not repent,’ that it is added to the list, though it can only be understood by persons of thought and cultivation.
HISTORICAL TALES.
These are of considerable value, not only as serving as ‘sugared history’ and conveying facts, but sometimes as supplying the element of romance which is almost essential to a wholesome development. Moreover, these stories are of great assistance in making it evident that the actors in history are not mere names with dates attached, to load the memory for an examination, but that they have been flesh and blood beings like ourselves.
There has been of late a great attempt to supply these tales, with very varied success. Some are so interesting as to be read apart from all purpose, for their mere interest. Others present nothing but wooden puppets put into the carefully studied costume of their period, and stiffly working out the facts, with much pains but no life. These, however, have a certain value, not only because perverse youth will read them when it will not read real history; but also because when a special period has to be ‘got up,’ they impress details of manners, dress, and habits in a convenient way. We shall therefore endeavour to give a chronological list of English, foreign, and Church history tales.