The Sun.
London, England, 1862-11-19 00:00:00

ROUTLEDGE'S PUBLICATIONS.

The widely-spread reputation of this firm as
caterers for the intellectual amusement of the young
will be well sustained by the books before us, which
are characterised not only by the tasteful manner
in which they are got up, but by their variety of
subject and agreeable handling. The first in the
list is Ivery Boy's Annual, the frontispiece of
which consists of a photograph of the Prince of
Wales elegantly framed in gold and co:our, whilst
the illuminated title page is of extremely pretty
design. The work is adorned, moreover, with
nearly one hundred illustrations, and its contents
comprise tales of adventure by sea and land;
articles on " Our Domestic Pets," by the hey. J. G.
Wood, M.A.; " Rambles through the international
Exhibition," by Edmund Routledge ; whilst vari-
ous sports and pastimes, such as football, hockey,
cricket, chess, &c., are described, and the more
difficult points in them made clear by means of
woodcuts.—Next comes The Wild Man of the West,
by R. M. Ballantyne. This, as may be guessed by
the title, is an exciting tale of Indian adventure,
containing a number of spirited illustrations, and is
a capital book for boys.—ln Clarissa ; or, the
:Mervyn Inheritance, by Anne Bowman, which is
also plentifully illustrated, we find a tale written
for the special delectation of young ladies. It nar-
rates in an easy, pleasant style the trials of a young
girl named-Clarissa, who, after being brought up in
luxury by an indulgent godmother, is left desti-
tute by her sudden death, and sent to the work-
house by the supposed heir to the Mervyn property.
Taken thence by an attached servant she becomes
governess, meets with various adventures, and at
last discovers her father and mother, succeeds to
the " Mervyn Inheritance," and becomes the
happy wife of Joseph Goodwin, who had
loved her long and well. Of a different
stamp is the volume called Dick Rodney,
or the Adventures of an Eton Boy, by James Grant;
inasmuch as it treats of hairbreadth 'sclpes on the
stormy ocean, as well as from the hands of evil-
disposed Spanish desperadoes. Leaving Eton, and
undecided as to a profession, Dick Rodney spends
some time at his father's rectory, near the sea.
Making there the acquaintance of a Dutch captain,
whose schooner was being repaired, he goes on
board of her evening and remains there by himself,
whilst the captain leaves the vessel for a short
time to secure her by some additional warps in con-
sequence of an unusually high tide. The vessel
breaks loose, however, Rodney is carried off to sea,
and is picked up by a brig bound for the West
Indies. But a " Cubano," whom they unluckily
save in a drifted boat, murders the captain and
several of the crew, and although he is eventually
thrown overboard he escapes to au uninhabited
island, whither the crew of the brig, which has been
destroyed by lightning, follow. They are rescued,
however, by a Spanish merchantman, on board
which the " Cubano" attempts to excite a mutiny.
It is suppressed ; and Dick Rodney, after seeing
the miscreant garotted at Vera Cruz, end discover-
ing, with a shipmate, a famous diamond, which,
shining by night and becoming invisible when ap
preached, had long baffled the search of the natives,
he returns to England and prepares to enter the
university,—The Story of Cervantes, by Amelia
B. Edwards, is the strange eventful history, re-
garded, of course, from a somewhat imaginative
point of view, of that great Spaniard, who was " a
scholar, a poet, a soldier, a slave among the Moors,
sand and the author of " Don Quixote." And ID The
Story of a Penny, by Mrs. Perring, we find a well-
written litrle tale, adapted to children of a smaller
growth, holding up good examples, and ending, as
such tales should do, pleasantly and cheerfully.