160 GLAUCUS ; OR, 



lire kingdoms and the star kingdoms, and its 

 leaves the heather-bells, and the polypes of the 

 sea, and the gnats above the summer stream. 



And, now, how can this desultory little treatise 

 end more usefully than in recommending a few 

 books on Natural History, fit for the use of 

 young people ? Not that this list will contain 

 all the best; but simply the best of which the 

 ^vriter knows ; let, therefore, none feel aggrieved, 

 if, as it may chance, opening these pages, they 

 find their books omitted. 



First and foremost, certainly, come Mr. Gosse's 

 books. There is a playful and genial spirit in 

 them, a brilliant power of word-painting, com- 

 bined with deep and earnest religious feeling, 

 which makes them as morally valuable as they 

 are intellectually interesting. Since White's 

 " History of Selborne," few or no writers on 

 Natural History, save Mr. Gosse and poor Mr. 

 E. Forbes, have had the power of bringing out 

 the human side of science, and giving to seem- 

 ingly dry disquisitions and animals of the lowest 

 type, by little touches of pathos and humor, 

 that living and personal interest, to bestow which 

 is generally the special function of the poet : not 

 that Waterton and Jesse are not excellent in 



