158 
Novices oF New Books. 
‘The History of British Ferns” By Epwarp NEwMAN, Memb. Imp. 
L. C. Acad., F.L.S., Z.S., B.S., Pres. Ent. Soc., &c., &c., &c. 
Third Edition. London: Van Voorst. 1854. 360 pp.; 136 
illustrations on wood. Price 18s., Demy 8vo.; 36s. Royal. 
Tue long-made promise is at length fulfilled: after delays and pro- 
crastinations extending through a period of five years, the third 
edition of the ‘ History of British Ferns’ is fairly on the bookseller’s 
counter, arresting the attention of the book-buyer, by the magnificent 
covering of green and gold with which Messrs. Cash and Astle have 
been pleased to invest it; and offering an irresistible bait to those 
who 
“‘ Value books, as women men, by dress.” 
But it is not by the dress that the editor of the ‘ Phytologist’ must 
estimate a work on science; neither does he wish the outside to in- 
fluence a single purchaser: he merely mentions the binding, that he 
may have the pleasure of thus publicly thanking the gentlemen who 
have performed their part in the resuscitation of the long-lost ‘ British 
Ferns’ with such admirable taste and skill: for be it known unto all 
men, that the editor of the ‘Phytologist’ and the author of the 
‘ British Ferns’ are one and the same. 
How then can the reader expect a good review? — Exactly on the 
principle that every man can best explain, if he so please, his own 
doings and his own views ; and if he venture beyond explanation, if 
he be once detected patting himself on the back, and saying “ well 
done,” why the reader will instantly draw the pen of his mind through 
the passage, and set down the writer as a mere simpleton: the know- 
ledge that this must inevitably be the case, will protect the editor 
from so egregious a blunder. On the other hand, the reader is 
guaranteed against captious criticism ; an author is sure not to vilify 
his own production. He can do nothing but explain and quote, and 
from his explanations and quotations, without a word of praise or 
blame, the reader will draw his own conclusions, much in the same 
way as from the book itself. 
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