It is noteworthy how in recent years, in the matter of fiction, the
star of Empire shineth in the North. After WALTER SCOTT established
the sovereignty of Scotland in the world of British fiction, there
was a long pause. In our generation WILLIAM BLACK came to the front.
Later, we have had STEVENSON, BARRIE, and CROCKETT. Now here is IAN
MACLAREN with his cluster of gem-like stories gathered _Beside the
Bonnie Briar Bush_ (HODDER AND STOUGHTON). My Baronite tells me
that of the collection Mr. GLADSTONE likes best "A Doctor of the Old
School." Where all is good it is difficult to establish supremacy.
But for simple pathos and for the skill of drawing with a few touches
living figures of flesh and blood, this sketch is certainly hard to
beat. Yet "A Lad of Pairts" runs it close. A very beautiful book, full
of human nature in its simplest form and most pathetic circumstances.
[Illustration]
Says the Baron, "What I who have read Mr. BRAM STOKER'S latest romance
could tell you about _The Watter's Mou'_ would make your mou' watter
with longing desire to devour it. It is excellent: first because it is
short; secondly, because the excitement is kept up from first page
to last; and thirdly, because it is admirably written throughout; the
scenic descriptive portion being as entrancing as the dramatic. It is
brought out in the Acme Series in charge of A CONSTABLE, and its full
price is only one shilling."
A good short story is to be found in _A Clear Case of the
Supernatural_, by REGINALD LUCAS, only as it is by no means "a clear
case," it might have been appropriately entitled, _Fluke or Spook_.