circulars and sample copies if they would undertake to introduce them to their friends in their respective neighbourhoods. A good deal can be done in calling attention to this matter through the press. Mr. E. O. Catford, of the Adult School at Bunhill, wrote a cordial letter to One and All, the organ of the Adult School movement, which led to the publication of an editorial in that journal in support of this attempt to bring the masterpieces of English literature within the reach of the masses. The editor says:- To them, practically, these treasures have been non-existent. Now every man can have a Poets' Corner" in his own house, Box III. and IV. Price, 2s. 6d. and 3s. 6d. and hold familiar converse with the greatest minds by his own fireside. The education and pleasure of such a privilege who can measure? This alone, if we owed Mr. Stead no other debt, would put him in the rank of public benefactors. We may share this privilege by helping the circulation of the penny books. We cannot speak too highly of their value. School librarians are strongly advised to introduce them into their schools. Our Adult Schools ought to circulate one hundred thousand or more of them. Shall it be done? Bunhill and other schools have taken the subject up heartily, and the men are showing their appreciation of this unique offer by closing with it gladly. Whittier and Tennyson ought to have a large sale among our schools, and should be secured at once, as we understand that the first edition of "Macaulay's Lays" (with portrait) cannot now be had for love or money. I have received enthusiastic letters from British Columbia, where the educational authorities seem inclined to adopt the series for use in their schools. An esteemed correspondent in Constantinople ordered four complete sets of" The Penny Poets" to be forwarded to four English Schools in the Turkish capital. Every week I get letters from working men and others who express their gratitude and delight on being introduced to reading of which they had heard but never before had had at their own disposal. All this is very encouraging, and justifies my hope that if those who know of "The Penny Poets" would help in bringing their existence before the public, we should have a weekly circulation of a quarter of a million instead of 100,000. At the end of this month I shall publish the second part of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage." I am rather curious as to the result of this experiment. I bring it out now, because the third and fourth cantos of Childe Harold describe the most popular of all European tours. Childe Harold goes from Belgium, up the Rhine, passes through Switzerland, and then makes the tour of Italy. No one who makes that tour should be without a pocket edition of the poem. It will be an increased pleasure to read on the spot the reflections which they suggested to one of the greatest of English poets. Next year I hope that Dr. Lunn may see his way to organise Childe Harold Tours, following the route of Lord Byron. "The Penny Poets" just met the need of the tourist who does not wish to lumber up his haversack or his portmanteau with bound volumes, but he would like to have "Childe Harold" in an edition which he could carry in his breast pocket without feeling the weight even when mountaineering. OUR CIRCULATING LIBRARY. HE demand for the boxes of our Circulating Library last month was not so great owing to the summer season. Only eleven boxes were ordered, and have been despatched to the following destinations : CUMBERLAND.-Harrington (two boxes). SUSSEX.-Horsham. WILTS.-Tisbury. SCOTLAND.-Buckhaven." ABROAD.-Hong Kong (four boxes). Four boxes have been ordered from Hong Kong quarterly by the editor of one of the local newspapers. He reports that there is no public library in the colony. At the City Hall they have a number of books which are useful for reference, but there is nothing more recent than thirty years ago. The club has a good library for its members, but at present there is no public lending library. Applications continue to come in for boxes in the Mediterranean ports, but I have not yet been able to establish any system for the interchange of the boxes. Last month several of the book boxes returned after having been out for the first quarter. The boxes had not suffered any damage worth mentioning, and were in good condition. The state of the books, however, In some varied very much in the different boxes. cases they had been rather roughly used, and were in a dirty condition. In these cases, of course, we have had to charge for damage. In other cases-notably, that of Long Sutton in Lincolnshire-the books had not only been very extensively read, but were returned in perfect condition. Centres in mining districts and villages in the neighbourhood of towns would probably find it worth their while to cover the books in paper covers. This will save a great deal of trouble in cleaning the books, and will also be a protection to them. On the whole, the books have been very well read, and will probably be more so in the winter months. I give here two typical lists, one from a small town in the mining district of the Midlands, and the other from a village in the Eastern counties. The numbers placed before the titles of the books show the number of times the volumes. have been issued during the quarter: I. 9-Beyond the Dreams of Avarice. By Walter Besant. The Privateersman. By Capt. Marryat. 7-Roland Yorke. By Mrs. Henry Wood. Punch. Girl's Own Paper Annual. Harper's Magazine. 6-History of Our Own Times. By Justin McCarthy. Marcella. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. The Heart of Midlothian. By Sir Walter Scott.. Joshua Davidson. By Mrs. Lynn Lynton. 4-John MacGregor. By Edwin Hodder. The Heavenly Twins. By Sarah Grand. Strand Magazine. 3-Wilhelm Meister. Thomas Carlyle. Chicago To-day. By W. T. Stead. Time and Tide. The Coral Island. By John Ruskin. By R. M. Ballantyne. Mary Barton. By Mrs. Gaskell. The Review of Reviews. Good Words. Boy's Own Paper Annual. 2-Shakespeare's Works. Coleridge's Poems. Havelock. By Archibald Forbes. Sir Robert Peel. By Justin McCarthy. The Rambles of a Rat. A. L. O. E. 1-Cardinal Wolsey. Bishop M. Creighton. Captain Cook's Voyages Round the World. Not issued-John Milton. By Mark Pattison. Ants, Bees, and Wasps. By Sir John Lubbock. II. 11-Knight Errant. By Edna Lyall. Two Years Ago. By Charles Kingsley. 10-It's Never Too Late to Mend. By C. Reade. 9-Marcella. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. S--The Story of Creation. By Edward Clodd. 7-The Raiders. By S. R. Crockett. Wee Willie Winkie. By R. Kipling. 6-The Green Fairy Book. By Andrew Lang. Short History of the English People. By T. R. Green. Toilers of the Sea. By Victor Hugo. 5-The Humour of Italy. The Heavenly Twins. By Sarah Grand. The Manxman. By Hall Caine. Beyond the Dreams of Avarice. By W. Besant. Treasure Island. By R. L. Stevenson. The Review of Reviews. Good Words. English Illustrated Magazine. Strand Magazine. Harper's Magazine. 4-Sir Walter Scott's Poems. Charles Kingsley, His Life and Letters. 4-Jacob Faithful. By Captain Marryat. The Draytons and the Devenants. By Mrs. Charles. 3-Mrs. Browning's Poems. Oliver Cromwell. By Frederic Harrison. A Voyage in the Sunbeam. By Lady Brassey. Kenilworth. By Sir Walter Scott. Harper's Young People, 1-Lord Lawrence. By Sir Richard Temple. The Marquis of Salisbury. H. D. H. Traill. Latter Day Pamphlets. Thomas Carlyle. Advice to Young Men. By W. Cobbett. The second list, that from the agricultural village, is the more satisfactory of the two. Not only were the books more read, but the serious books seem to have been Fiction more popular than in the mining district. The novels were naturally headed the lists in all cases. borrowed twice as often as were the more solid books included in the boxes. The magazines seem to have been a very popular feature. They were borrowed less frequently than the novels, it is true, but a good deal more often than the rest of the works in the boxes. The most popular magazines seem to have been Harper's, The Girl's Own Paper, The English Illustrated, THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS, and the Strand. Contrary to expectation the Illustrated London News does not seem to have been much appreciated by the first batch of readers. One satisfactory feature in the lists which have been made up so far, is the remarkable popularity of historical works. In nearly every case the historical books stand high on the list. It is worth noting how very seldom the novels of Charles Dickens and Sir Walter Scott have been issued. Nor does poetry seem to have found favour in the eyes of our village readers. Considering all things, however, the use which has been made of the first set of book-boxes is very creditable to the members of the various centres. I despatch boxes of books as soon as they are ordered. Owing to this the boxes of the same set do not return at the same time, which adds considerably to the difficulty of re-despatching them. In the future I will continue to send out the boxes as they are required, but will arrange that at the end of the second quarter they shall be returned on the same day. This will probably make the second quarter of irregular length, but it is necessary to make this arrangement in order to facilitate the interchange of boxes. Mr. Robertson, who has formed a centre at Buckhaven, writes me that in addition to the usual subscription to the library he charges an entrance fee of one shilling. In return for this shilling he allows members to borrow books from his own private library. By this arrangement he secures the advantages both of a permanent and a circulating library. It is an example which might be followed in other parts of the country. By a misprint one of our Lincolnshire branches was recently given as Tugham. It should have been Ingham. Mr. A. S Steenberg, who is now in England studying our Free Library system, with a view of establishing something on similar lines in Denmark, has been much interested in examining the working of our circulating library. As most of the towns of Denmark are in reality little more than villages, he is of opinion that a similar system to the REVIEW OF REVIEWS CIRCULATING LIBRARY Would probably be the best method of providing the Danish people with libraries. They are wofully deficient at present in this respect. I shall watch with interest any attempt which may be made to establish a circulating library on our lines in the kingdom of Denmark. 6s. 6s. Trilby. By George du Maurier. Celibates. By George Moore. Gerald Eversley's Friendship: a Study in Real Life. By the Rev. J. E. C. Welldon. 6s. The Story of Bessie Costrell. By Mrs. Humphry Ward. 2s. The Alps from End to End. By Sir William Martin Conway. 218. net. Conventional Lies of Our Civilisation. By Max Nordau. 17s. net. "Trilby" (Osgood, 6s.), it would seem, is achieving something of the success over here that it has already made in America; while the appearance of Mr. George Moore's "Celibates" (Scott, 6s.) shows that the author of "Esther Waters" has at last captured the book-buying public. But I do not think that "Celibates" will add at all to his reputation. It is made up of three separate stories, of which the first, "Mildred Lawson," takes up three hundred of the odd five hundred pages the volume contains. Studies of celibate character, of types averse from marriage, they show undoubted cleverness, but too often the kind of cleverness that has not sufficient command of its own qualities; and again and again Mr. Moore allows his work to suffer from that old intrusive lack of reticence which more than anything else was responsible for the comparative failure of his earlier works, and which, no doubt, he learned from his whilom master, the author of "Nana." Nor has the book any of that large humanity of motive which, so much to its advantage, informed every chapter of "Esther Waters," and redeemed its occasional faults. There Mr. Moore was sympathetic; in "Celibates" he returns to his old hard, dispassionate habit of treatment-a habit which, whatever its artistic merits, has seldom characterised a great book, and never a popular. "Gerald Eversley's Friendship" (Smith and Elder, 6s.), the next book of fiction on the list, is quite a different pair of shces. It is a school story, and by the Headmaster of Harrow. Mr. Welldon was one of the gentlemen, surely, who a year or two ago protested against the "real life" of the French author I have just mentioned. His "study of real life," at least, does not err on the side of undue realism. It is overloaded with matter, however, especially towards the end, and although readable, is not going to be a school classic like "Tom Brown's Schooldays; will it ever reach the popularity of those other schoolstories by a schoolmaster-" Eric" and "St. Winifred's." Both Mrs. Humphry Ward's "The Story of Bessie Costrell" (Smith and Elder, 2s.), and Sir William Martin Conway's "The Alps from End to End" (Constable, 21s. net), appeared on the list last month. Their reappearance goes to prove that the reading public is not as inconstant as we have been made to believe. It has remained faithful to Mrs. Humphry Ward, and it has not yet tired of the seemingly endless literature of Alpine and other climbing. nor How far Max Nordau's "Conventional Lies of Our Civilisation" (Heinemann, 17s. net) owes its immediate success to the Nordau "boom" which followed the appearance of "Degeneration," it is difficult to say. The present translation is from the seventh edition of the German work, and that its note is much the same as that of the later and more famous volume is suggested sufficiently by the title of its first chapter, "Mene, Tekel, Upharsin." Again, we find Dr. Nordau the uncompromising critic. His statement of "the lie of religion," "the lie of a monarchy and aristocracy,"" the political lie," "the economic lie," "the matrimonial lie," and a whole series of "lies" under the comprehensive title of "miscellaneous," is as strenuous and fearless as the most sensation-loving reader could desire. He draws, in fact, an indictment, readable enough certainly, but generally wrong-headed, against most of the characteristic features of our civilisation. We have one writer in England whom he sometimes reminds me of-the author of " The Quintessence of Ibsenism," Mr. George Bernard Shaw. Among the other big books the box contains, I think you will like best "The Land of the Muskeg" (Heinemann, 14s. net), not merely for its numerous illustrations, its excellent maps, and its interesting letterpress, but because of the author, a very good portrait of whom appears as the frontispiece of the volume. Mr. H. Somers Somerset is the son of Lady Henry Somerset, who only attained his majority this year, and we have in his "The Land of the Muskeg," which was published last month, probably the best book of the kind that has ever been written by so young a man. It is a book of travel and adventure in lands but rarely visited by the English hunter. Mr. Somerset formed the chief of a hunting party which penetrated into Alberta and Athabasca, and afterwards crossed the Rocky Mountains into British Columbia. As a record of travelling in regions as yet unsophisticated by civilisation, where real genuine Indians can be found, and where young adventurers can risk their lives in as many ways as human ingenuity can devise, Mr. Somerset's book will commend itself, and it deserves a wide popularity. There are so few articulate persons who have travelled through the Hudson Bay Company's territory, that when one comes along with such a natural talent for observation as Mr. Somerset, it would be unpardonable for him not to have given us, who stay at home, some of these pen and pencil pictures of the unknown country through which he has passed. The "Muskeg," which gives its name to the book, is not, as some imagine, a wild beast, but a fearsome natural product in the shape of a bog. To take the "solid subjects" first, I think that the book of the most actual historical interest that I send you is the volume, " The Crimea in 1854, and 1894" (Chapman, 16s.), in which General Sir Evelyn Wood has collected, with considerable amplification and revision, and with the addition of many illustrations and maps, the series of articles on the Crimea which he contributed last year to the Fortnightly Review. Then there is the third and final volume of Dr. Reginald Sharpe's "London and the Kingdom " (Longmans, 10s. 6d.), a history derived mainly from the archives in the custody of the Corporation at the Guildhall. It is an official history, too, "printed," the titlepage tells us, "by order of the Corporation under the direction of the Library Committee." To the excellent Α Cambridge Historical Series has been added a volume by Mr. Edward Jenks, "The History of the Australasian Colonies from Their Foundation to the Year 1893" (Clay, 6s.), bound, by the size of its subject, to be an abstract merely, but an abstract which the author's skill, the maps, and the excellent index have rendered most useful. Short History of the Catholic Church in England" (Catholic Truth Society, 3s. 6d.) is, of course, intended for the general reader; while "The Legitimist Kalendar for the Year of Our Lord, 1895" (Henry, 5s. net), by the Marquis de Ruvigny and Raineval, I send you more as a curiosity than as a serious book. For "a text-book for Legitimists throughout the world" in which the line in the National Anthem appears as (6 soon to reign over us," and which proclaims itself as a very incomplete attempt to arouse interest in the History and Claims of the Elder Line of the Royal House of these Realms," is certainly a real curiosity. A volume of a very different type is Mr. Edward F. Strange's "Alphabets: a Handbook of Lettering with Historical, Critical, and Practical Descriptions (Bell, 8s. 6d. net), one of Mr. Gleeson White's Ex-Libris Series, treating the subject from the standpoint of historical beauty, rather than that of historical value or antiquarian research. The result is a work of extreme interest to every reader to whom the printed book has an appeal apart from the meaning conveyed by its contents. The illustrations number nearly two hundred, and give examples of all sorts of different types and letterings, both ancient and of to-day. Thus there are specimens of the alphabets designed by Mr. William Morris, Mr. Walter Crane, Mr. Selwyn Inage, and other designers of note who have experimented in this particular medium. Of distinctively biographical interest I have not much to send you, but Professor R. K. Douglas's "Li Hungchang" (Bliss, 3s. 6d.), the new volume of Mr. Jeyes's Public Men of To-Day Series is very much on the nail, and makes an excellent introduction to the modern history of China, and to the study of its future developments. Of purely personal matter there is, of course, very little, but as a sketch of the Chinese Viceroy's public career and of his influence it could not be bettered. Then Archbishop Whateley's famous brochure, "Historic Doubts relative to Napoleon Buonaparte " (Putnam, 3s.) has been reprinted; and Mr. Percy Fitzgerald has brought up to date and reissued in a popular form his "Sir Henry Irving: a Record of Over Twenty Years at the Lyceum "(Chatto, 1s.) You will find four or five books of great political value. Of these perhaps we should be most grateful for the two new volumes, the fifth and sixth, of Mr. Charles Booth's "Life and Labour of the People in London' (Macmillan, 7s. 6d. each, net). The first of these deals with the building trades, wood workers, and metal workers; the second with precious metals, watches, and instruments, sundry manufactures, printing and paper and the textile trades. Each has an exhaustive index, and is thoroughly illustrated with diagrams. The amount of labour which their preparation entailed upon Mr. Booth and his assistants must have been enormous, but it is equalled by their value. Then there is "The Problem of the Aged Poor" (Black, 6s.), by Mr. Geoffrey Drage, M.P., one of the gentlemen who turned out Sir William Harcourt at Derby. It is divided into three parts, dealing respectively with the extent and causes of old age pauperism and the means of meeting it, the question of old age pensions, and the conclusions which Mr. Drage draws from his investigations and considerations. He ventures to publish this book, he says, because "the Report of the Royal Commission on the Aged Poor has given, for various reasons, so little satisfaction." On a subject of equal practical interest is Mr. Chance's "The Better Administration of the Poor Law" (Sonnenschein, 6s.), a volume of Mr. C. S. Loch's Charity Organisation Series, designed to serve as a guide to the administrators of the Poor Law. Mr. Chance advocates the restriction of out-door relief with a view to its virtual abolition. Dr. F. H. Wines's "Punishment and Reformation: an Historical Sketch of the Rise of the Penitentiary System" (Sonnenschein, 6s.) hails from America, and naturally has a good deal to say about "the honourable part which the United States has borne in the movement for a better recognition of the rights even of convicted criminals." "This is not," says the author, "a book on prisons, much less on the organisation of Government prisons." It is designed rather "as an aid to legislation and a guide to the formation of a correct public opinion." Then you will find a new volume of Mr. W. J. Ashley's Series of Economic Classics, a reprint of Thomas Mun's "England's Treasure by Forraign Trade, 1664 " (Macmillan, 3s. net). A suggestive scientific work, and one to which specialist critics have not taken very kindly, on account of the heterodoxy of the theory it advances, is Mr. Charles Dixon's "Migration of British Birds" (Chapman, 7s. 6d.). It deals with the post-glacial emigrations of British birds as traced by the application of a new law governing the geographical dispersal of species, and is put forth as a contribution to the study of migration, geographical distribution, and insular faunas.' orthodox, and dealing generally with the same subject, is Mr. F. E. Beddard's A Text-Book of Zoogeography' (Clay, 6s.), a volume of the Biological Series of the Cambridge Natural Science Manuals. It has useful maps, and aims at giving the principal facts of its subject without an undue profusion of detail. More Of science of a less theoretical kind I send you two books. One, "The Pheasant" (Longmans, 5s.), is a new volume of the Fur and Feather Series, and is the joint work of the Rev. H. A. Macpherson, who deals with the natural history of the bird, of Mr. A. J. Stuart-Wortley, who deals with its shooting, and Mr. Innes Shand, who, in due order, treats of its cooking. The illustrations are good. The second book, Mr. P. Anderson Graham's Country Pastimes for Boys" (Longmans, 6s.), I cannot praise too highly. It is just the kind of volume there was a need for, and which should be in every house where boys are, or where boys visit. It is not a manual of sports or games, nor of the pursuits which every boy learns at school, but it is designed to suggest occupations, healthy out-of-door occupations, for boys in the country who are thrown on their own resources. Moreover, it is wisely aimed at the comprehension of lads ten or eleven years old, and everything, with the aid of nearly three hundred illustrations, is made perfectly clear. It has twenty-two chapters, and deals with such subjects as birds'-nesting, bird pets, poultry and pigeons, fishing with and without tackle, skating, swimming, and kite and toy-boat making. volume entirely admirable and praiseworthy. It is a In verse I send three volumes-two of a kind ambitious if not presumptuous, one modest and unassuming; and not unnaturally the least "important" is the best of the three, and holds the most pleasant reading. Neither Sir Edwin Arnold's " The Tenth Muse and Other Poems" (Longmans, 5s. net), nor Mr. Eric Mackay's "A Song of the Sea, My Lady of Dreams, and Other Poems' (Methuen, 5s.) have any qualities other than those their readers will expect, while Mr. Mackay's shows a deterioration somewhat sad when we remember his early and best work. Compare, for instance, his "Song to the Sea" with Mr. William Watson's recent poem on the same subject. However, both Sir Edwin Arnold and Mr. Mackay are supposed to be "in the running for the laureateship, so you must see the volumes. The third book is Miss Dollie Radford's "Songs and Verses" (Lane, 4s. 6d. net), a sweet collection of lyrics and short poems, many of which once read stick obstinately in the memory-the best test for this kind of verse. They have music, and heart, and charm-qualities none too plentiful in contemporary poetry. I wish I could quote some of the stanzas; you must waste no time in reading the book for yourself. No one will hail Mrs. Radford as a new or a "great poet, but she is a real one for all that, and her slight little volume is worth having and treasuring. The literature of religion and theology has had no very serious contributions, although it is difficult to estimate. the effect which a book like Mr. Coventry Patmore's "The Rod, the Root, and the Flower" (Bell, 5s.) may have on its readers. It is a collection of aphorisms and short passages dealing with various matters mundane and divine, characterised by extreme shrewdness and clearness of presentment. Mr. Patmore describes his work here as being mainly that of the poet, bent upon discovering and reporting how the loving hint of doctrine has met the longing guess' of the souls of those who have so believed in the Unseen that it has become visible, and who have thenceforward found their existence to be no longer a sheath without a sword, a desire without fulfilment." Then I send Mr. C. L. Marson's "The Following of Christ" (Stock, 5s.), a collection of short "exercises" from modern writers intended to serve for the devout reader" as a help and a starting point for meditation. All sorts of writers have been ransacked for suitable passages, from John Stuart Mill to Mrs. Lynn Linton; and Canon Scott Holland writes a preface to the volume. You will find a curiosity in the shape of a reprint, in facsimile, of “The Souldier's Pocket Bible" (Stock, 1s.), more generally known as Cromwell's Soldiers' Bible," which was compiled and issued for the use of the Commonwealth Army in 1643. The little book has a bibliographical introduction, and a preface by Lord Wolseley, in which he says that "the soldier who carries this Bible in his pack possesses what is of far higher value to him than the proverbial marshal's bâton." In the way of literary criticism and essays the most important book is Mr. C. W. G. Warr's "The Greek Epic" (S.P.C.K., 2s. 6d.), a volume of the Dawn of European Literature Series, dealing with the literature of Prehistoric Greece, Homer and the Homeric Poetry, and Hesiod and the Hesiodic "Theogony." Rather more modern in its subject is Mr. Oliver Elton's "An Introduction to Michael Drayton" (Cornish, Manchester), printed for the Spenser Society, and containing a good portrait, a facsimile signature, a bibliography, and an index. If you want seriously to study the author of "A Ballade of Agincourt," here is your opportunity. And, finally, Mr. H. S. Salt's "Selections from Thoreau" (Macmillan, 5s.), a volume of the Eversley Series, is likely to do a good deal to make the author of "Walden" better known in England. selections given, though moderate in compass, are, says Mr. Salt, "typical of Thoreau in almost all his moods and aspects." The frontispiece portrait of the American writer is a delightful presentiment of the man. By the way, among the new editions you will find two of The Thoreau's complete works, "Essays and Other Writings and "A Week on the Concord" (Scott, 2s. 6d. each), volumes of the excellent New England Library. It is an attractive edition. Thoreau is evidently making way with our public. Now that your library is growing at such a rate, and makes such a centre of interest in your neighbourhood, you will be glad of Mr. Sonnenschein's "A Reader's Guide to Contemporary Literature (Sonnenschein, 31s. 6d.), the first supplement to his very useful "Best Books." This bulky volume tabulates and arranges under easily discovered heads, with an infinity of cross references, all the books of any value of the past five years. By its aid we can turn up in a minute the names of the latest literature and the most abstruse of subjects. There are two other miscellaneous books. Miss Margaret Bateson's "Professional Women upon their Professions: Conversations Recorded " (Cox, 5s.), is a series of interviews, with portraits, reprinted from the Queen. A specialist speaks for each subject-thus, Mrs. Sheldon Amos for vestry work, Mrs. Mary Davies for singing, Miss Demain Hammond for illustration, and Madame Katti Lanner for ballet dancing. Mr. Algernon Rose's "Talks with Bandsmen: a Popular Handbook for Brass Instrumentalists" (Rider, 2s. 6d.), describes itself. It is illustrated, and its author is enthusiastic; he seems to think, and gives his reasons for thinking, that the future of the British working-man depends on the integrity of the national brass band. You may not care to give to a new writer the steady attention you have learnt to give to Mr. Meredith, and so perhaps you will miss some of the excellence of Mr. Francis Prevost's "Rust of Gold" (Ward and Lock, 5s.), a collection of five short stories and four dialogues (these last are slight and unimportant), in which the influence of the author of "Evan Harrington " is always paramount. Mr. Prevost does not satisfy himself with a plain statement; he must refine upon his meaning, repeating it again and again in alternative phrases. But still he gets his effect and if his writing is not always clear, it is seldom undistinguished. And moreover the foundation, the skeleton, of his matter is good. His plots are modern and interesting, and his characters live. I REGRET to hear that Mr E. R. Louden, the young Englishman who started off some months ago to walk round the world, has been compelled to abandon his enterprise after having covered 2,300 miles on shanks's pony. Mr. E. R. Louden worked his way through France, then crossing the Pyrenees, made his way to Gibraltar, crossed the Straits, and started to walk along the African coast. His idea, it will be remembered, was to earn enough money as he went to pay his way. This he was able to do with considerable success owing to an engagement in which he had entered with Galignani's Messenger, to which journal he contributed interesting travel papers from time to time. Unfortunately, his arrangement broke down in some unexpected way; at the same time his physical strength gave way. I am very sorry for Mr. Louden, but I am very glad that he did not get further away before he broke down. A walking tour round the world is no joke, and Mr. Louden, although he had any amount of pluck and perseverance, was not tough enough in physique to stand the strain of so arduous a pilgrimage. He has gained a good deal of experience, seen much more of the world than he would have done if he had remained in South Wales, and he has gone through quite sufficient adventures to make his forthcoming book a volume of more than ordinary interest. |