BAGNALL'S BUNGLES. 95 
for this practical utility we are referred to the con- 
tents of the book, where it “ will be clearly seen” . . 
Very well ; we will take Mr. Bagnall on his own 
terms ; and in endeavouring to answer our second 
critical query—Is the book, as a book, a good one or 
a bad one ?—judge him by the test he himself pro- 
poses. We can, at least, trust to merit the acknow- 
ledgments which he promises to all who may succeed 
in pointing out any little defects or deficiencies, so as 
to render future editions “ still more worthy of public 
approbation.” 
With the utmost diffidence, we think then, Mr. 
Bagnall, that you say nothing in your book which 
has not been said a dozen times before; and that what 
you have said is as badly expressed as possible. 
Here is, for example—and it may be taken as a 
fair specimen of the whole—an illustration of the 
“practical” instruction which it is his ambition to 
impart :— 
“Floating thence [from Brayweir] on the bosom of the 
majestic Thames, the reader may come to an anchor and a 
luncheon also, at. Monkey Island, which is a good half-way 
house from his starting-point and Windsor; and if tired of 
his piscatory amusement, he may for an hour indulge his 
curiosity and love of the antique by inspecting relics of ages 
long since passed away. Dropping slowly down, the Wal- 
tonian disciple will find some fine stretches of water between 
this island and his destination ; and trusting that his sport © 
will be commensurate with his expectations, I will do the 
