But we fancy the taste of some of our readers may not yet have been hit upon. Let them try _The Story of Jack and the Giants, illustrated by Richard Doyle_; and {524} they will find this wondrous story rendered still more attractive by some thirty drawings, from the pencil of one of the most imaginative artists of the day, and whose artistic spirit seems to have revelled with delight as he pourtrayed the heroic achievements of "the valiant Cornish man." We will now turn to those works which are of a somewhat graver class; and we will begin with Miss Drury's able and well-written story, entitled _Eastbury_, in which the heavy trials of Beatrice Eustace, mitigated and eventually overcome through the friendship and truthfulness of Julia Seymour, are told in a manner to delight all readers of the class of tales to which _Eastbury_ belongs; and to sustain the reputation as a writer, which Miss Drury so deservedly acquired by her former story, _Friends and Fortune_. The name of the Rev. Charles B. Tayler would alone have served as a sufficient warrant that _The Angel's Song, a Christmas Token_, is work of still more serious character, even though the author had not told his readers, in his _Envoy_, that the tale was written to correct the mistake into which many well-meaning people have fallen on the subject of Christmas merriment; and to suggest the spirit in which this sacred season should be celebrated. That the book will be favourably received by the large class of readers to whom it is addressed, there can be little doubt; and to their attention we accordingly commend it. It is very tastefully got up. To the publisher of _The Angel's Song_, Mr. Sampson Low, we are also indebted for a very stirring and interesting book, _The Whaleman's Adventures in the Southern Ocean_, edited by the Rev. Dr. Scoresby, from the notes of a pious and observant American clergyman, whilst embarked, on account of his health, on a whaling voyage to the South Seas and Pacific Ocean. That Dr. Scoresby should think the matter of this work so far novel and interesting, as well as "calculated for conveying useful moral impressions," renders it scarcely necessary to say another word in its recommendation. But it has a higher object than mere amusement; its object is to enforce upon those "who go down to the sea in ships," the duty of "remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy." Here our editorial labours have been interrupted by a band of infant critics to whose unprejudiced judgments we had entrusted _Peter Little and the Lucky Sixpence_,--each begging to be allowed to keep the book. Good reader, do you wish for better criticism? Worthy author of this _Verse Book for Children_, do you wish for higher praise?