The March issues of the popular magazines published by Messrs. Cassell and Ca., Zd., are to hand, and though there are no articular novelties this month the very Righ standard of excellence in letterpress, and illustrations which they have reached is fully maintained. The Family Magazine is at once a credit to the publishers and the periodical literature of the day; the fiction is from the cleverest pens, invention and style being excellent, and the editor righty recognises that problems" and "types" are not so much sought after by the healthy literary appetites it is his duty to satisfy.. Take for instance the shorter stories, "The Odessa Deal," by Huan Mee, and The Story of Hannah Wray," and the reader must pronounce them excellent in conception and treatment. Then amongst the articles we have "With a Camera in the Clouds," an account of an eventful voyage from Paris to Agen, illustrated by photographs taken from the car of the balloon. Messrs. Besangon and Farman, who made the trip, were in the air not quite eighteen hours, during which time they traversed France from its metropolis to the extreme south. One of his friends" gives a chatty account of the Poet Laureate Home, from which we learn that he has made himself the pet of society, and he uses his privilege so energetically that no one is ever lacking an anecdote about him." The writer relates little anecdotes concerning Mr. Austin, and the paper is free from idle flattery, the terse verdict being that "after all is said and done, Mr. Austin is more than Laureate. He is an English gentleman." The contribution to the series of papers dealing with the Royal Courts is one describing that of Denmark. "Truth to tell," says the writer, "the Court residents affirm that the aged King and Queen still preserve all the freshness of youthful affection for each other, and give and receive attentions in the same loving manner as they did fifty years ago."
Their usual daily life is simple in the extreme. Breakfast at an early hour in their own apartments, after which special visitors may be received by the Queen, affairs of State are entered into by the King, or the latter may often be discussed together. In any case they will meet again during the morning in one of their own rooms, and, joined by some of the family, pass their time together until luncheon. This is at one o'clock. Then the King will often go for a walk round the city. Sometimes he has one or two of his grandchildren to keep him ce pony *ometimes only his big, faithful boar hound. His Majesty strolls quietly along, courteously returning the many respectful greetings accorded him, occasionally stopping to look in the shop windows, and, if the children are with him, often going inside to make purchases... It is astonishing how free and untrammelled are the movements of the Danish royal family; the members of which can go out without being mobbed. Nobody thinks of doing more than making room for them on the inside of the pavement, and bowing or raising the hat.
It is dificult to give an adequate idea of the varied contents of the Saturday Journal, and generally speaking it may be said to contain enthralling fiction in the enol and abbreviated form, spirited inter-jews with well-known people, and up-to-date papers on interesting subjects.
Acc-panying The Quiver, which next calls for notice, is an artistic reproduction as a separate plate of Holman Hunt's picture, The Light of the World," accom-rome by Ruskin's interpretation. The letterpress consists of the instalments of three serial stories, three complete tales, and some papers on more or less religious subjects. It has also the inevitable paper on Toyalty, the subject this time being the young Queen of Holland, who, like most young sovereigns attracts a good deal of interest. With youth and a throne one can make a stir in the world.
Beyond a word of hearty praise for Work, which neither the amateur nor professional mechanic can be without, our notice of these capital magazines must not extend.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.