The drama, then, is the new feature of the ninth volume, but this is also the volume of fine essays, the highest type of prose. The essays are best represented by the following titles, all of which may be found in the table of contents of the eighth volume: _The Alhambra_ by Irving, _A Bed of Nettles_ by Allen, _Dream Children_, by Charles Lamb. These titles, too, show how broad is the field covered by the essay and how delightful a variety there may be in the one style of composition. The departments of Travel and Adventure, Patriotism and History have not been neglected. On the whole it is a serious volume, one which will give the high school student and the older members of the family a plentiful supply of good reading material and a suggestion of study for the evenings of many a winter day. _Volume Nine._ Most of the selections in this volume are rather difficult reading for young people but there are helps enough to make the task a pleasant one. The series of essays, begun in Volume Eight is here continued, with _The Ascent of the Jungfrau_ by Tyndall, _A Dissertation upon Roast Pig_ and _The Praise of Chimney Sweepers_ by Charles Lamb, and two representative essays by Sir Francis Bacon. The studies are of an advanced nature and if carried out as intended will be of decided service to high school students. In a few cases the selections are simple, like _Robert of Lincoln_, for instance, but the studies that accompany it are the more complete. It is hoped by such an arrangement to show how inexhaustible a field for study literature offers and how many things there are to be known about the least of our fine lyrics. _The Ode on a Grecian Urn_ is of a different type. This poem makes no direct appeal to sentiment or to the knowledge of the average young person, yet by study it is seen to be a lyric of exquisite beauty. This volume introduces the writings of several authors who have not before appeared because of their slight appeal to young people. Among them may be mentioned particularly Addison, Boswell, and Bacon. The volume contains also orations that should be studied as models, viz: _The Gettysburg Address_, _The Fate of the Indians_ and _The Call to Arms_. Each has a series of studies following it. As a relief from the serious work of the volume there are included an extract from _Pickwick Papers_; that fascinating story, _The Gold-Bug_; and the delightful essay, _Modestine_, an extract from _Travels with a Donkey_, by Stevenson.