308 BEVIEWS OF BOOKS. Feb., 



produce it, must retain the author more firmly than ever in the proud 

 position of being in the front rank of modern lustorians. The period 

 dealt with is that from the reign of Egbert to the completion of the 

 Norman Conquest. To adequately trace the course of the author 

 would be almost to rewrite the history. Suffice it to say that all the 

 author's charm of style and excellence cf treatment are fully re- 

 produced in this volume which no cultivated man can without serious 

 loss afford to exclude from his library. 



The English Floioer Garden. By W. Robinson, Illustrated with 

 many engravings. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street. 

 1883. 

 We welcome this book because it meets a want that has never, 

 in the same form, been supplied. Its object is to give the style, 

 position, and arrangement of the English Flower Garden; and 

 he chapters (excellently illustrated) which deal with alphabetically 

 arranged, of all tlie plants best suited for the embellishment 

 of a garden, and trea,ts of their culture, and of the positions 

 suited for each. The compiler of the work is well known as the 

 Editor and Proprietor of the Garden and numerous other publica- 

 tions, and the work itself is a collection of the contributions to 

 Garden and other correspondents whose names and whose co- 

 operation are acknowledged in its pages. In the second and larger 

 part of the work, the dictionary form has been adopted for the 

 arrangement of the information contained in it ; and we are glad to 

 notice that the common as well as the scientific names of the plants 

 included and described in this section have been given. The l)Ook 

 is therefore its own index, and is most conveniently arranged for 

 reference. Its 300 pages of closely-printed type appear to include 

 a vast amount of information, and the abounding illustrations, 

 admirably printed, will prove to be of immense heljD to its readers. 

 Under the name of each plant are included, besides the description 

 of the subject, cultural and other notes of great value to garden 

 amateurs. Altogether, the book is a most useful one, and we heartily 

 commend it to our readers. 



Granite Crar/s. By CI. F. Gokpon Gumming, Author of 'At Home 

 in Fiji,' ' Fire Fountains,' ' In the Hebrides,' &c. Witli Illus- 

 trations. William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh and London. 

 1884. 

 The most voracious appetite for travel and adventure will have a 

 * sop ' of considerable staying power in this bulky and interesting 

 volume. Its contents are as various as they are interesting, and in 

 saving this we speak as much for the attractiveness of the nnrrative 



