The Pulpit Analyst. Vol. V. Hodder and Stoughton.
The 'Analyst' has completed the fifth year of its existence, and has, we think, continued to grow from the beginning. The present volume is a rich and valuable one. A course of sermons by Alford 'On the Parable of the Ten Virgins,' a very valuable series of discourses by Mr. Baldwin Brown 'On Misread Passages of Scripture,' a miscellaneous series of fresh and vigorous sketches by Mr. Watson Smith, and a short series by the Editor on the life of Jacob, constitute a homiletical department of unusual excellence. Dr. Parker's odd concatenation of wise, clever, and incongruous advices to a young preacher, of which we have spoken elsewhere, run through the volume under the title 'Ad Clerum.' Mr. Godwin contributes two or three able discourses on 'Proving Knowledge,' and a new translation, with notes, on the Epistle to the Galatians. The 'Analyst' again changes hands. It comes with the new year under the editorial control of Mr. Paxton Hood. It enlarges its dimensions, and changes its name to 'The Preacher's Lantern.'
JUVENILE BOOKS.
At Christmas time all pleasant things abound:—from turkeys to pantomimes, from oysters to gift books, from staid family gatherings to snapdragon and hunt the slipper; all domestic and social charities are in highest exercise, as if the carol of the angel, and the blessed advent of the Holy child inspired all forms of brightest joy and most loving thought. Not least among the blessings which Christmas pours from her cornucopia are her gift-books. If we welcome with satisfaction the higher works of art which Christmas brings, and which, ministering to the sense of the beautiful, elevate and refine the entire man, moral and intellectual, as well as æsthetical, we welcome still more heartily the affluent Christmas supply of books which more especially address themselves to the young. Artistic excellence, romantic adventure, fairy imagination, natural phenomena, the wonders of travel and of science, creations of fiction and fancies of poetry, are all brought under requisition—and their very highest products consecrated to the nurture of youthful imagination and fancy, mind and heart. This is one of our distinctive glories, and, we will venture to say, a mark of distinctive wisdom, that our literature for the young is so rich in quality and so affluent in quantity. Few nations possess a juvenile literature—France has no children's books; neither has Spain, nor Italy. Even our American cousins have a very meagre native supply. Only Germany can make any pretence to a comparison with us. Month by month books for the young are produced, and at Christmas-tide they are poured forth in bewildering profusion; publishers of gravest repute lay themselves out for them; the staidest literary journals review them. We have come to understand that no service to a people can be greater or more momentous than to supply a pure, bright, merry-hearted literature for the young, which shall wisely minister to their imaginations, and in pleasant ways sow the seeds of good things in their hearts. Happy are the children of these days compared with those of the days of 'Goody Two Shoes' and 'Sandford and Merton.' What a small British-Museum-library a child of twelve would possess who should have, from its birth, acquired and retained the hundreds of juvenile publications of each year; and what is more, how intelligent, if it had imbibed all their instructions, how good if it had embodied all their lessons. Tales of fairies and genii abound, as is fitting and wise; but it is no less a national blessing that our juvenile literature is so wholesome. We can speak only of a very few of the books which, in every variety of form and character, seek to brighten the nursery and the fire-side.
In the very foremost rank, whether in respect of artistic attractiveness or of literary excellency, we must place the dainty publications of Messrs. Nelson. In the Eastern Seas; or, The Regions of the Bird of Paradise. A Tale for Boys. By W. H. G. Kingston. In the Wilds of Africa. A Tale for Boys. By W. H. G. Kingston. Two books of imaginative travel, in the style that Mr. Kingston has made his own, full of descriptive information carefully compiled, and of adventurous incidents well imagined. Mr. Kingston wraps the pill of useful information in the jam of romantic adventure so deftly that young patients will scarcely be conscious of the physic—only of the gratification of their intellectual palate. In the first of these works Mr. Kingston carries his young friends to fresh scenes and pastures new, and opens out to them the tropical wonders of the Malay Archipelago. Walter Heathfield, the hero of these adventures, is a fatherless boy, who, with his sister, are taken to the East by Captain Davenport. The voyage is, of course, full of adventure and peril, and all the phenomena of Eastern seas and skies are observed. Singapore and Nagasaki open to the young travellers the worlds of China and Japan. Walter, with a companion, is washed overboard in a typhoon, and, of course, is cast upon a desolate island; after hair-breadth escapes he returns to England, as the heir and successor of his relative, Lord Heatherley; the personal story being cleverly interwoven with the useful knowledge. In the second book named, Andrew Crawford is sent to sea, in consequence of the mercantile reverses of his father, with a due charge of good advice from the latter. The captain dies, and the ignorant mate permits the ship to be stranded on the coast of Africa. A slaver picks up Andrew, and part of the crew getting on shore, they resolve to journey inland to the Crystal Mountains, through the gorilla district, the wonders of which are described. On the river, among the mountains, through the wilderness, they wander, until all the marvels of Central Africa are described. These two books will be prime favourites with boys. They are worthy of Mayne Reid.—The Sea and its Wonders. By Mary and Elizabeth Kirby. This is a companion volume to 'The World at Home,' published last year, of which it is in every way a worthy successor. Both books are beautifully got up as to paper, type, and binding, and are most profusely illustrated with steel engravings. The wonders of the sea itself, and of its productions, are described in a clear and simple style, and in short chapters, with paragraphs and words equally short, so that the book has a most inviting look to even an inexperienced reader. It would be difficult to find a more interesting as well as instructive book for children from seven to fourteen, while to many beyond that age, its facts will be new and interesting.—The Fall of Jerusalem and Roman Conquest of Judea. A condensed account of the 'Fall of the Sacred City,' and a summary of the events that led to it; followed by a vivid narrative of the final subjugation of Judea. The last chapter gives us the characters which Dean Milman introduces in the 'Fall of Jerusalem,' and quotations from it. It is an interesting and valuable little book, well furnished with engravings.—Lighthouses and Lightships. By W. H. Davenport Adams. A very complete and readable account of the ancient Pharos and of our modern lighthouses, with their principles of construction; together with a correct list of those that guard the dangerous coasts of Great Britain and Ireland. A chapter is given to French lighthouses, and to the manner of life of those who spend their days in tending these safeguards for our sailors. As a book of reference it will be very useful, but it will repay a careful reading before being consigned to the reference shelf. The illustrations, over sixty in number, give life and interest to the little volume, which is intended for no especial class of readers, but for both young and old who care for the welfare of humanity.—Cyril Ashley. A Tale. By A.L.O.E. Another of A.L.O.E.'s instructive stories for young people, which the authoress, in a touching preface, 'thinks will be the last time she may be permitted to bring her pitcher from the well-spring in which she has so often dipped it.' Cyril Ashley is a young man of singular prudence and goodness, who has thrust upon him by stern duty the reformation of a weak, selfish step-father, and a number of unruly half-brothers and sisters. The history of Jonah is the stimulus and deeply pondered lesson which gives him the resolution to carry that trying task to a satisfactory issue.—Birds and Flowers. By Mary Howitt. A volume of verses on birds and flowers, enlarging the latter term, that is, so as to include orchard and forest trees; written on that high level of excellence which makes Mrs. Howitt's poetry so pleasant and readable, although there are not many pieces of it that abide in the memory, or will take their place in our permanent poetical literature. The illustrations by M. Giacomelli, the French artist who illustrated 'the Bird' of M. Michelet, are very beautiful. They are all vignettes, or initial letters, or chapter headings, but they are done with great artistic skill and delicacy. Altogether this is one of the most beautiful of smaller Christmas books. Graceful song and artistic picture together will charm young readers, and supply a very choice gift-book for them.—The Spanish Brothers. A Tale of the Sixteenth Century. By the Author of 'The Dark Year of Dundee,' &c. The author of the series, of which this is one volume, has much of the careful skill and fascination of the author of the Schönberg-Cotta series. Many suspected her first work to be from the pen of the latter. The 'Spanish Brothers' contains a vivid picture of the horrors of the Inquisition, and of the heroism with which many of the early Protestants in Spain endured its inflictions—life-long incarcerations, and auto-dá-fé's, at which men, and even women of gentle birth were burned to death before crowds of exulting spectators. Such things are strange to read of in these our 'soft times,' but there is abundant evidence to prove that both the cruelty and the heroism in their extremest forms were real facts. The fictitious part of the book is a story (interesting, but rather too long) of two brothers devoted to each other, and to the idea of a father whom they had never seen, until one of them comes accidentally to share his prison. The two then remain together till the death of the father and the martyrdom of the son.—The Story of our Doll. By Mrs. George Cupples. The adventures of little Maggie's foundling doll will appeal very successfully to the make-believe imagination of little children, and greatly delight them.—Wonders of the Plant World; or, Curiosities of Vegetable Life.—Useful Plants. Plants adapted for the Food of Man, Described and Illustrated.—Walter in the Woods; or, Trees and Common Objects of the Forest Described and Illustrated. Three little books designed to give young people popular botanical knowledge. The first is the more scientific in form. The last two have recourse to that kind of conversational incident and illustration which children will listen to for hours. All three may be commended.—Pictures and Stories of Natural History. A series of short sketches of different animals, with very effective coloured plates of each animal described. Admirable for juveniles.
Foremost and best among Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton's juvenile books comes Old Merry's Annual, the prince of its class, as Aunt Judy's volume is the princess. Brilliant in crimson and gold, and chubby in form like a winter apple, Old Merry comes forth to brighten Christmas firesides, as cheery, wise, wholesome, and quaint as ever. Among the annuals we like it the best. Stories, gossipy chats de omnibus, puzzles, useful information about most things that interest boys, and didactic papers, make up a miscellany which it is impossible to describe, and difficult to overpraise. M. D. Liefde's story is the vale of an able man, a great favourite with young people. It is chiefly a posthumous publication.—Madeleine's Trial, and other Stories. From the French of Madame de Pressensé. A group of simple stories illustrative of the law of love. The translator has made them so English in tone as well as in style that the flavour of the original is well-nigh exhaled.—Walter's Escape; or, The Capture of Breda. By J. B. De Liefde. A spirited account of one of the most remarkable exploits in the heroic struggles of the Dutch to secure their liberty. It is written with the author's wonted vigour.—Model Women. By William Anderson. This volume gives us slight sketches of the Mother of the Wesleys, Elizabeth Fry, Amelia Sieveking, Felicia Hemans, Hannah More, Elizabeth Browning, Caroline Herschel, Selina Countess of Huntingdon, and a few others whom the author conceives to have been respectively 'model women,' either in domestic life, philanthropic effort, literary achievement, scientific research, or Christian consecration. There is not much power or point in the characterization of these distinguished women, but the brief memorials of some of them are interesting, and may help to raise the idea of women's work.
Messrs. Griffith and Farran sustain the reputation of the house that became famous by the publication of 'Goody Two Shoes.' They have an admirable staff of writers for young people, and the works they produce are of a highly interesting and instructive character. One of the best this year is Household Stories from the Land of Hofer; or, Popular Myths of Tirol. By the Author of 'Patrañas; or, Spanish Stories.' Between twenty and thirty stories of myth and magic of the old-fashioned sort, embodying the wild legends that hang about the valleys of the Tyrol (the writer pedantically spells it Tirol), and have haunted them for a thousand years. The Norgs, or little men, are the chief heroes, a kind of southern Trolls, or dwarfs of the Black Forest. It is a class of myths less known than those of Scandinavia, but having many of their weird characteristics. The most popular are 'Nickel of the Mine,' the little man of the mountain who dug riches for the covetous, selfish Aennerl; and the 'Rose Garden of King Sweyn,' made by the Norg king for his mortal bride, whom, however, after a fierce combat, he had to surrender to Theodoric the Visigoth. Many of the stories are legendary embodiments of the struggle between Christianity and Paganism. Since Dr. Dasent's 'Norse Tales,' a more important and interesting collection of legends has not appeared.—Tales of the Saracens. By Barbara Hutton. These tales are history, not fiction, treating first of Mohammed as prophet and as conqueror, and then of the line of Caliphs by whom he was followed. The book is written in a clear and lively style, and to intelligent readers will prove both entertaining and instructive.—Sunny Days; or, A Month at the Great Stowe. The Great Stowe is a farmhouse in the country, at which a family of little town-folk spent a month. We are told all that they saw and did, and a right merry party they were; none the less so for the wise discipline and sententious wisdom and clever stories of Aunt Gommie. 'Aunt Gommie is like a spider; she goes on spin, spin, spin, and she is never at a loss for a web.'
Sampson Low & Co. have re-published a charming American Story, Little Women; or, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. By Louisa M. Alcott. Whether Miss Alcott is the most popular of American writers for young people we do not know; but beyond all question, 'Little Women' is just now the most popular American juvenile fiction. You see it upon every American book-stall, and find it in almost every American home. It is having a greater run than any recent fiction; and it is really a very charming story. The 'Little Women' are the four children of Mr. March, an American pastor, away South at the war. Their characters are delineated, and their history, from early girlhood to motherhood, traced with a consummate cleverness. Miss Alcott has not, perhaps, so delicate a touch as the author of the 'Gayworthy's,' nor so graphic a power as Mrs. Beecher Stowe; but she has delicacy, descriptive power, and force of no ordinary kind. One of the most promising characteristics of American fiction is its individuality. There is a marked family likeness among the fictions by female writers, which during the last few years have obtained such popularity among ourselves. They are redolent of American character and life, especially of New England life, and have also an intellectual cast of their own—a kind of household idealism, quaintness, and piety, not easy to describe, but unmistakably to be recognised. We predict for 'Little Women' a popularity greater than that of the 'Wide, Wide World,' 'The Gayworthy's,' or 'Faith Gartney's Childhood.' We are not sure that our American cousins do not, in this department of literature, far excel any writer that we can boast There are two or three other books of Miss Alcott's ('The Old-Fashioned Girl,' for instance) with which we should like English children to be acquainted, although they are not quite equal to 'Little Women.'
Messrs. Bell and Daldy send The Brownies, and other Tales. By Juliana Horatio Ewing. Beautiful stories, charmingly told, with capital illustrations by our old friend George Cruikshank.—Aunt Judy's Christmas Volume for Young People contains a wealth of instruction and amusement, which we have neither time nor space to describe. Our young readers should get it, and judge for themselves, and we assure them they will not be disappointed.—Waifs and Strays of Natural History. By Mrs. Alfred Gatty. An elementary book of instruction, concerning corals and coral islands, the Beaver, sponges, zoophytes, microscopic objects, &c., conveyed in Mrs. Gatty's charming way. Nothing lends itself more easily to romance than natural phenomena, and Mrs. Gatty's readers need not to be told how magical Aunt Judy's pen is.—Parables from Nature. Fifth Series. By Mrs. Alfred Gatty. Eight more of Mrs. Gatty's popular parables, about 'Consequences,' 'Ghosts,' 'Unopened Parcels,' 'See-Saw,' &c. The one on 'Unopened Parcels' is the longest and the best.—Deborah's Drawer. By Eleanor Grace O'Reilly. The author of 'Daisy's Companions' cannot fail of an eager welcome from the readers of that charming little volume. Here is a companion to it. Deborah is the dead sister of Lavinia Meek, who had a great gift of telling and writing stories for children. These had been put away in a drawer, which Lavinia Meek opens for the amusement of little Averil, who reads four or five clever and touching little stories which she found there. These are set in a neat framework of personal history. The little book is a gem.