any
_raison d'etre_ of the volume, unless its purpose is distinctly to
bring together in a re-arranged form the series of illustrated papers on
American history contributed by Mr. Higginson to Harper's Magazine
during the past two years. If such is the author's purpose, then we have
no fault to find with the work. But the term "_Larger_ History" is,
in this case, a misnomer. The book does _not_ contain as much
matter as the earlier work to which we have alluded, and it is not, so
far as we can make out, written for older readers. It does not strike
one as being a history at all,--that is, a straightforward, logical, and
continuous narrative coinciding with those exemplar types of historical
writing bequeathed to us by Macaulay or by Motley. The book ends, as we
have said, with the close of Jackson's administration; but we glean very
little concerning the _administration_ and we are told much
relative to "Old Hickory."

Now, then, this may seem like finding fault with Mr. Higginson's book.
If so, we have plainly asserted our reasons. But with his subject
matter, and with his manner of treating it, everybody must be pleased.
We have never read more charmful essays on the First Americans, the
Visit of the Vikings, the Spanish Discoverers, the French Voyageurs, the
Dawning of Independence, and the Great Western March, than appear
between the covers of this beautiful volume. They are full of meat, and
have the savor of fresh and studious investigation, and we feel grateful
to their author for having provided so tempting a feast. What he says
and the way he says it make us the more to regret the unfortunate title
of his book.

The illustrations, which are numerous, are veritable works of art, and
we do not believe that any other American book can exhibit a finer or
more valuable series of portraits of American statesmen. This feature
alone should commend it to lovers of fine books, of which the present
issue is decidedly one. We are not informed whether a second volume is
forthcoming.

[Footnote 6: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. A Romance. By Lord Byron.
Boston: Ticknor & Co. Price, in cloth, $6.00.]

[Footnote 7: Three Decades of Federal Legislation, from 1855 to 1885. By
the Hon. S.S. Cox, 1 vol. 8vo, pp. 726. Illustrated. Providence, R.I.;
J.A. & R.A. Reid, 1885. Price, $5.00, (sold only by subscription.)]

[Footnote 8: LINCOLN AND STANTON. A study of the war
administration of 1861 and 1862, with special consideratio