The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-31 00:00:00

The Instructive Picture Book. ByMH H. H T
M. H. T.

Edmonston and Douglas.
This is a really admirable work, alike excellent
in design and execution. It will perhaps be re-
membered that a former'work of this series, having
for its object general information-on common things,
was issued some time since. `We then took occasion
to speak of it in terms of high commendation, and
this second part is fully equal in merit to the first.
It takes for its subject the Natural History of the
Quadrupeds, which characterise the principal divi-
sions of the globe, andthus impresses on the mind of
the student a clear idea of the geographical distribu-
tion ofanimals. Europe,the abode ehieflya domesti-
cated animals, occupies the first place, and aecord.,
ingly we meet with plates of the lynx, the wi
cat, the moose and reindeer, the chamois !tad -Al,pip,k
hare, the Ilarb-Ary ape, the ca'ing whale,. ii
cattle and sheep of various kinds. Asia is rep*
sented by the tiger,. huntingleoplrd,
m =lc deer, zebu, and yak. Java, Ne*
ANstralia, and Van Diemen's Land follow Oe'kett-
gave°, of course, occupying a prominently§itiint ilk
the latter. Africa shows us no less than 16 plated,
ine:uding the most striking specimens Of vild-ani-
mal life. The lion, the leopard, elephant, rhino.:
eeros, hippopotamus, buf alo, giraffe, zebra, ant
hyena are the tno,t prominent. .goutia. America
has, among othprs, the puma, jaguar; llama' sloth,
anteater, and chinchilla—the latter graceful little
animal forming one of the prettiest pictures, in the
book. North America, for its share, sends the
grisly bear, racoon, bison, mountain sheep, beaver,
and several kinds of deer. Even the ends of the
earth are made to contribute—the Arctic regions
being the domain of the walrus, the musk ox, and
the narwhal, 'or sea unicorn ; and the plate belong-
ing to the Antarctic Seas showing us the sperm
whale. The various tribes of monkeys furnish a
large proportion of the plates. The table of con-
tents scarcely does justice to the number and va-
riety of the pictures, as in many instances groups
of animals are introduced in the back. ground.
Eack,plate is. ',accompanied by a clear and careful
description of the nature and habits of the ani-
mal, giving his proper sioological name, his
species, when first known, where most common,
and similar information, interspersed with anec-
dotes of their chase or capture most interesting to
young lovers of adventure. The size and beauty
of the plates are remarkable ; they are admirably
coloured, the landscapes and sea views being as
carefully drawn and brilliantly coloured as the
animals themselves. They are really excellent, and
the great variety of scene offered by the different
climates has been taken full advantage of. The luxu-
riance of tropical vegetation and the barren wastes
of snowy mountains are skilfully contrasted. Where
all are so good of their kind it would perhaps be
difficult to select the best, but we may mention as
especially remarkable for brilliancy and effect the
plates of the British wild cattle, the Lapland rein-
deer, the tiger, the elephant, the tapir, the walrus,
and sperm whale. There are in all sixty plates,
and many of them will serve to teach in some
degree botany also. They will delight very juvenile
scholar'', though the general character of the work
is suited to those much more advanced, and indeed
elders need not scorn to turn over its pages. The
drawings are really works of art, and we heartily
recommend it to the public, at the same time ex-
pressing a hope that the series will be continued in
the same style. Ornithology would afford some
excellent subjects for the skilful pencil of the
artist. The present work can scarcely fail to meet
with a large share of public favour.

Liberty Hall, Oaon. By W. Winwood Reade.
Charles I. Skeet.
_ .

It is a great pity whea an author writes upon a
subject of which he knows nothing -that he does
not chose the wilds of Siberia, or any other out-
landish part of the globe about which the general
public know little and care less, rather than one of
our oldest institutions with which most educated
men are directly or indirectly connected. The author
of " Liberty. Hall" lays himself open either to this
charge or to the graver accusation of misrepresen-
tation. Let any University man say whether the
following extract is a fair representation of the
undergraduates of Oxford :
He had about twenty guests, all pretty much of the lame
cast. Handsome, well-dressed young fellows, distinguished
chiefly by their snow-wall collars, their protruding wrist-
bands, their bunches of dangling watch-chairi bijouteries ;
their attention to appearance, displayed in their hair po-
maded to daszlement, their handkerchiefs perfumed to satu-
ration, their young whiskers overwhelmed with assiduity,
and on their cravats, the patience, if not the talent of a
Brummell. Their veneration for fashion might be dis-
cerned in the uniform cut of their dress, changed every
month at the dictation of the leading tailors, and which has
so often lifted the eyebrows of Belgravia. Their conversa-
tion ran on the stage of which they knew nothing, of the
world in which they had no experience, and of their own
street-dirt.of which they knew too much. They choked
up the interstices of their talk with oaths, and daubed over
their.ignorance of English with a profusion of slang. They
had no particular ',ices except a very great one : that of
spending money wl4ch was not their 03V11,- titat 'of ruining
their families, ,relibi,ug their. tradesmen, disgracing, im-
poverishing themselves.
After the foregoing it is unnecessary to dwell upon
the description given of " college dons ;" but• we
advise )Ir.
,W. I.;‘adc in his future publications to
adhere more to common sense, and not in his at-
tempts to reach the sublime to fall-into the ridicu-
lous. In the following passage, we think, lie shows
his talent for the latter :

Come with me to n part where one of the green plots Is
girdled by a ring of buildings turretted and imposing.:The
April sun that is warm without heat, and gleams, without
dazzling, flickers merrily on the smiling grass, and loses
itself in the repulsive shadows of the court.

We beg to suggest that warmth cannot exist with-
out heat, that grass does not smile, end that the
sun cannot loser itself in a " repulsive shadow." True
lore, however sincere and disinterested, may betar-
ried beyond the bounds of reason and good taste;
and we do not think that the hero of the tale would
raise himself in the estimation of his beloved, unless
she were as devoid of common seise as himself, by
the subjoined conduct :

" When her form had melted from my sight, I returned
with a throbbing brain to the spot on which she hid been
resting. I covered it with fierce kisses, and even with my
tears. In the soft black earth, the marks of her feet were
imprinted : I kissed these also, and believed that I was
embracing the feet of Margaret. 1 reclined upon that bank,
and as the shadows fall round me, I fancied that Margaret
was also there. When the night warned me I should go,
rising heavily, I perceived a little flowenupon-thedull sod
by my side. It was the flower that had seamed •t 0 smile in
the hands of Margaret ; it was the flower she had.carried
in her breast; it was faded and withered, for the warmth
of her bosom had dried up the dew within its; leaves. I
pressed it to my lips without ceasing, as I 'want slowly back
towards the town, and I dreamt that the lips of Margaret
Adie were burning beneath my own."
The tale, setting aside its misrepresentation of facts
and absurd diction, is amusing, and those who are
not particular on these little points may find in its
perusal some entertainment.