Contemporary Literature [pp. 468-469]

THE LADIES' REPOSITORY.
CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE.
FROM D. Appleton & Co., comes yet another volume from the author of the " Heir
of Redclyffe,"'' whose productions now
number among the twenties. Miss Yonge
is among the respectable second-class novelists, whose works form so large an element ill
thle poptLilar literature of thle day. Shle gained
a fair reputation by some of her earlier productions, especially those here indicated in
connection with her name. But she has not
been a growing writer; her later productions
scarcely sustaining the promise or, indeed,
equaling the performance of her earlier
ones. The present volume, a story of a
family of not especially interesting persons,
presents no prominent features, and can be
desired only by that class who require their
new novel much as the tippler calls for his
dr-amis, or the petted child for yet another,
and a still more exciting story, simply for
the faintest amusement for the passing hlour.
Because there are such readers in sufficient
numbers to create a marklet for the stuff
they feed upon, such bookls wvill continue to
be written and published.
IF the great Franklin Square Publishing
House has many and great sins, blothl ethical
and esthetical, to atone for, on account of
their "Library of Select Novels," a partial
and not inconsiderable compensation to an
injured public is rendered by thlem in their
"Students' Series" of Histories. The two
volumes recently issued, "Merivale's General
History of Rome "t and "Cox's General
History of Greece,"+ are worthy of the society into which they are here introduced,
which is saying very much for them. Deall
Merivale is already well and favorably knownt
to general readers, as well as to those more
exclusively devoted to his specialty, by his
The Thtree Brides, by Charlotte M. Yonge, author of "The Heir of Redclyffe," etc., D. Appleton
& Co.
t A General History of Rome, fromt the Foundation of the City to the Fill of Augustul/us, B. C. 753
to A. D. 476. By Charles Merivale, D. D., Dean of
Ely. New York: Harper & Brothers.
I A General History of Greece, fromz the earliest
icriod to the death of Alexander the Great, with a
Sketch of the Subsequent History to the Present
Time. By George W. Cox, M. A., author of "Tales
twvo excellent works, "The Romans Under
the Empire," and " Conversion of the Northern Nations," which are about equally trustworthy as histories and pleasingly instructive as mo(lels of style and composition. Mr.
Cox, too, is not a stranger in the department
of historical literature, as the reader will
see and appreciate by thle naminig of the
two rare volumes from his pen, in connection
with his name upon the title-page of this
work. Both works are written in pture, classical, and transparent English, thorotughly
learned, informned and informing; and bothl
are sprightly, vivacious, and sufficiently
dlramatic to please and alltire, while they
instrtuct. For these, as eminently for the
whole series, the publishers dleserve great
thanks. It is an invaluable library of history in the smallest space consistent withl
proper fullness, and at a price so mo(lerate
that very fewv need complain of inal)ility to
purchase.
Is "History Primers" a new series, of
which this little volume, "History of Etrope "II (16mo, pp. I50), is at once the lproimise, and the fulfillment in l)art? The name
of the editor is a pledge of both the schlolarship and the literary excellence of thle successive little volutmes. This is of necessity
only a skeleton history, and yet just such a
one as should be thoroughly mastered before
a fuller one is taken in hand.
ENGLISH gramimar and composition are
best taught together, and for younger classes
in school a good text-boolc onk both subjects
is Dr. Quackeinbos's Illustrated Lessons in Our
Language, published by D. Appleton & Co.,
New York.
THE readers of Harper's Monthly k]now
very wvell the name of Eugene Lawrence,
and wvithl his name they will readily call to
mind what kind of matter hle has been
accustomed to furnishl to that world-read
of Ancient Greece," "Mythology of the Aryan Nations," etc. New York, Harper & Brothers; Franklin Square. I876.
U History Primers. Edited by J. R. Green. History of Euroae, by Edward A. Freeman, LL. D.,
late Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford. With maps.
New York: D. Appleton & Co.
468
[Nov.,