Great West,'* published indeed by Mr. Murray, but we imagine printed in America, only meagrely fulfils the expectations set forth by the title. By the 'Great West' the author means the valleys of the Mississippi and the Lakes; and Mr. Parkman has industriously searched private sources and the public archives of France. The volume is rather of American than general interest, and its hero is that great pioneer of civilisation, La Salle, who was assassinated on the prairie by some of his unworthy followers. It is satisfactory to know that the wretched scoundrels were soon afterwards murdered themselves, according to that rapid system of crime and recrimination which has always been predominant in the Far West. La Salle achieved a great geographical discovery, and for a time it proved fruitless, and has only yielded one of the most wild and mournful of the American narratives of discovery. We imagine that our readers will hardly find it worth while to go fully into the narrative, unless for the sake of tracing the character of the Jesuit missions.

'Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste. It is now twelve years since the second edition of this book was exhausted. Messrs. Groombridge now bring forward a third, more handsome than ever. Fully two hundred illustrations on wood

'The Discovery of the Great West: an Historical Narrative.' By Francis Parkman. Murray.

Rustic Adornments for Homes of Taste.' By Shirley Hibberd. Groombridge

and Sons.

and in colour illustrate the text which takes up the adornments of the house and the garden. It is a charming volume, and we cannot do better than allow the author to explain himself in the following lines from the Preface: 'Its purport is to enlarge the circle of domestic pleasures and home pursuits; to quicken observation of natural phenomena so that the meanest of familiar things shall become eloquent in praise of beneficence and beauty; to strengthen family ties and affections by multiplying the sources of mutual sympathy; and to cheer the loneliest with amusements that tend to cheerfulness, and afford solace and variety, where, but for such reliefs, life might become unbearably monotonous and wearisome. Whatever may be our views of life, religion, and duty, such recreations as are herein described are not likely to clash with them, but they may help the soul in its aspirations by conducting it away from disturbing scenes, and surrounding it with an atmosphere of health and peacefulness. Happy he who by experience can enter into the full meaning of Coleridge's exquisite lines on the lark in his "Tears in Solitude:"

There he might lie on fern or withered heath,
While from the singing lark, that sings unseen,
The minstrelsy that solitude loves best,
And from the sun, and from the breezy air,
Sweet influences trembled o'er his frame;
And he with many feelings, many thoughts,
Made up a meditative joy, and found
Religious meanings in the forms of nature;
And so, his senses gradually wrapt

In a half-sleep, he dreams of better worlds;
And dreaming hears thee still, O singing lark,
That singest like an angel in the clouds.'

See p. 192.

IAM a man that lives a great deal

at the seaside. Originally I used to run down for a month or two, then I came down regularly to spend the winter, latterly I have got into the way of spending all my time on the southern coast save when I go off for a holiday to northern latitudes. Originally my object in going to the coast was to avoid the east wind; I may say, however, that this is all a delusion. The east wind blows everywhere, and I believe it blows with peculiar viru

VOL. XVIII.-NO. CIV.