The Sun.
London, England, 1867-12-02 00:00:00

to the Holy Name," and many others alter-
nate with contributions from modern writers.
Golden thoughts from Jeremy Taylor and others,
poets in prose, have been very appropriately intro-
duced. The whole is arranged in fifty-two divi-
sions, intended to furnish reading for the various
Sundays of the year. Not only once a week, how-
ever, but every day in the year, these golden
thoughts, collected in this golden casket, to adorn
the table of drawing-room or boudoir, will arrest
the attention and charm the imagination of all who
may chance to cast a glance upon them.

" A thing of beauty is a joy forever ;"
and this goodly volume, so beautiful within and
without, with its charming pictures and its precious
thoughts, is not only a most appropriate Christmas
gift, but a treasury of perrenial attraction.

Aunt Louisa's Keepsake.

With coloured Illustra-

tions.

Warne & Co,

Aunt Louisa is, indeed, a precious friend to the
Little Ones. A fairy godmother, as bountiful as
the benefactress of Cinderella ; a brilliant variety
of picture-books, bearing her name, have already
endeared her to many a play-room and
nursery, and her latest but assuredly not her
least gift, is this very seasonable keepsake—a
large handsome volume bound in crimson and gold,
and adorned with twenty-four brightly-coloured
pictures, printed in oil colours. The contents are
singularly various. " Sing a Song of Sixpence,"
with the blackbird pie of famous memory, and the
avaricious king and the epicurean queen severally
occupied with " money" and " bread and
honey" is followed by (to us at least) an original
history of " the Robin's Christmas Eve," in which
a half-frozen robin redbreast finds shelter among
the holly boughs which decorate the interior of the
church at Christmas time, and when the school
children assemble to sing the Christmas hymn, the
voice of the little robin joyously swells the chorus.
The illustrations to this little narrative are singularly
attractive. Next in the series we have the adven
tures of " Rolfm hood and his Merry Men," amid
the verdure c the greenwood, as a contrast to
which a glimpse of the various pleasures of the
" Sea-side"—boating, donkey-rides, &c., fill up the
remaining pages of this very delightful keepsake.
The " Robin's Christmas Eve" is also issued in a
separate form.

Punian ; or, Thoughts Wise and Other-wise. By
the Hon. Hugh Rowley. With Designs from

his Pencil. Hotten.

Thoughts Wise and Other-wise, the majority
being decidedly otherwise ! On the cover of this
book, the various letters which compose its name,
appear running pell-mell in most admired con-
fusion, and the inside is, to say the most of it, al-
most equally incoherent, possessing at the same
time a certain amount of method in its madness.
In his apologetic introduction, the compiler depre-
cates our criticism by assuming that his work is
only intended to amuse a leisure moment and pro-
voke a laugh, even at its own expense. As such,
at this season, it may take its place among the
guests of the Christmas fireside.

My New Year's Gift to my Son. By Pamphilius,

New edition.

Virtue, Brothers.

A new edition of the "Head and Heart
Legacy," presented by Pamphilius as a new year's
gift to his son, is very appropriately brought out as
a gift book for the young. It possesses the great
merit of having truth as its foundation, and con-
tains the practical results of a father's experience
set forth in the most interesting manner for the
benefit of the youthful generation.

Heroes of Discovery.

By Samuel Mossman,

Edmonston and Douglas.

We place this very valuable biographical history
of such men as Magellan, and Cook, and Park, and
Franklin, and Livingstone with Christmas gift
books, because to many a youthful reader it will
prove far more attractive than a romance. The
histories recorded in this volume are chapters of
that " truth " which is stranger than fiction. The
various perils and adventures which befel the
daring explorers are detailed in a most interesting
manner. The history of Dr. Livingstone con-
cludes with the record of his supposed death.

Beeton's Boy's Annual, 18G8.

The collected numbers of the " Boys own Maga-
zine," handsomely bound and illustrated, form a
goodly annual, rich with pleasant miscellanies of
fact and fiction, verse and prose. Portraits of the
various writers who have contributed to the perio-
dical increase the value of its contents. " A story of
the Days of Agincourt," by Francis Davenaut ;
" Stories of the British N avy," how to make an
electric telegraph, puzzle~, pyrotechn y, gymnastic
exercises, and a very ormium gafherum, more or
less, of amusing papers are to be found iu " The
Boy's Annual for 1868."

Nursery Tales. A new version. By Mrs. Valen-
tine. With original illustrations. Warne and
Co.
The charming picture of Dobson's—who does not
know it?—" Fairy Tales," ought to have been the
frontispiece to this delightful little book! Such a
volume as this, with stories of " Puss in Boots,"
and " Blue Beard," and "Red Riding Hood," and
" Jack the Giant-Killer," and the rest— those dear
old tales familiar to us all—
" Belovad as fable, and believed as truth."
Such a volume as this is the treasure clasped in the
hands of the lovely little fairy girl of the picture,
and such a volume as this, thanks to Mrs. Valen-
tine, is the very gift-book for the dear little Home
fairies, " The Good People—" wee" People of the
Nursery."

Sea Fights, from Slut's to Navarino. By Mrs. R.

Valentine.
This little book, which is likely to become the
" boy's own book" in every play-room where it
appears, acquires a particular interest, from the
fact that the authoress (to whom, as she tells us in
her preface, it has been a labour of love), is the
descendant of five generations of seamen, and
that part of her childhood was passed on board
of Nelson's Victory. The stories of the various sea
fights are narrated in the most interesting manner
and interspersed with many appropriate poetical
quotations. " Old Merry's Annual" contains an
amusing collection of tales and sketches calculated
to render the readers merry as well as wise. And
Old Merry's Christmas Party, in a smaller form,
contains various articles of a similarly amusing
character.