Now, then, this may seem like finding fault with Mr. Higginson’s book.  If so, we have plainly asserted our reasons.  But with his subject matter, and with his manner of treating it, everybody must be pleased.  We have never read more charmful essays on the First Americans, the Visit of the Vikings, the Spanish Discoverers, the French Voyageurs, the Dawning of Independence, and the Great Western March, than appear between the covers of this beautiful volume.  They are full of meat, and have the savor of fresh and studious investigation, and we feel grateful to their author for having provided so tempting a feast.  What he says and the way he says it make us the more to regret the unfortunate title of his book.

The illustrations, which are numerous, are veritable works of art, and we do not believe that any other American book can exhibit a finer or more valuable series of portraits of American statesmen.  This feature alone should commend it to lovers of fine books, of which the present issue is decidedly one.  We are not informed whether a second volume is forthcoming.

[Footnote 6:  Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.  A Romance.  By Lord Byron.  Boston:  Ticknor & Co.  Price, in cloth, $6.00.]

[Footnote 7:  Three Decades of Federal Legislation, from 1855 to 1885.  By the Hon. S.S.  Cox, 1 vol. 8vo, pp. 726.  Illustrated.  Providence, R.I.; J.A. & R.A.  Reid, 1885.  Price, $5.00, (sold only by subscription.)]

[Footnote 8:  LINCOLN AND STANTON.  A study of the war administration of 1861 and 1862, with special consideration of some recent statements of Gen. George B. McClellan, By Wm. D. Kelley. 8vo, pp. 88.  New York:  G.P.  Putnam’s Sons. 1885.  Price, $1.00.]

[Footnote 9:  The American Caucus System; its origin, purpose, and utility.  By George W. Lawton. 1 vol. pp. 107.  New York:  G.P.  Putnam’s Sons, 1885.  Price, $1.00.]

[Footnote 10:  The Postulates of English Political Economy.  By the late Walter Bagehot, with a preface by Alfred Marshall. 1 vol. pp. 114.  New York:  G.P.  Putnam’s Sons. 1885.  Price $1.00.]

[Footnote 11:  CITY BALLADS.  By Will Carleton, author of “Farm Ballads,” “Farm Legends,” etc.  Illustrated.  Square 8vo, pp. 180.  New York:  Harper & Brothers.  Price $2.00.]

[Footnote 12:  A Larger History of the United States of America to the close of President Jackson’s administration.  By Thomas Wentworth Higginson.  Illustrated by Maps, Plans, Portraits, and other Engravings. 1 vol. 8vo, pp. 470.  New York:  Harper & Brothers, 1886.  Price, $3.00.]

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

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