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Only a Penny! And well worth every halfpenny of it. I am alluding
to the Christmas Number of the _Penny Illustrated Paper_, in which
appears _A Daughter of the People_, by JOHN LATEY, Junior, who is
Junior than ever in December. Capital Christmas Number, and will
attract an extraordinary number of Christmas readers.
_The Rosebud Annual_, published by JAMES CLARK & CO., is quite a
bright posy for our very little ones.
Turning from novels, it is a relief to come across so inviting a
little volume as the _Pocket Atlas, and Gazetteer of Canada_, which
will be found of the greatest possible value to eccentric Londoners
who purpose visiting the Dominion during the coming Winter.
"_Persicos odi_," but you won't agree with HORACE if you follow this
"_puer apparatus_" of G. NORWAY, who, in _Hussein's Hostage_, gives us
the exciting adventures of a Persian boy.
_'Twixt School and College_, by GORDON STABLES, has nothing to do
with horsey experiences, as suggested by the author's name, but is the
uneventful home-life of a poor Scotch laddie, who triumphs by dint of
pluck.
_Nutbrown Roger and I_, by J.H. YOXALL, a romance of the highway,
quite in the correct style of disguises and blunderbusses always so
necessary for a tale of this kind.
_Disenchantment_ is the--not altogether--enticing title of "an
everyday story," by F. MABEL ROBINSON, author of _The Plan of
Campaign_. It is rather a long tale to tell, for it takes 432 pages
in the unravelling. It ends with a beautiful avowal that "the heart
is no more unchanging than the mind, and that love's not immortal,
but an illusion." As the utterer of this truism is a young married
woman, it would seem that the foundation is laid for a sequel to
_Disenchantment_ that might be appropriately called _Divorce_.
_The Secret of the Old House_, by EVELYN EVERETT GREEN, who evidently
can't keep a secret to himself, will be so no longer when the children
have satisfied their curiosity by reading the book.
My faithful "Co." declares that he has been recently hard at work
novel-reading. He has been revelling in an atmosphere of romance.
He has been moved almost to tears by _Lady Hazleton's Confession_,
by Mrs. KENT SPENDER, which, he says, includes, amongst many moving
passages, some glimpses of Parliamentary life. _Friend Olivia_, in
one bulky volume, takes the reader back to the days of CROMWELL, when
people said "hath," instead of "has," and "pray resolve me truly,"
instead of "don't sell me;" and "Mr. JOHN MILTON" played upon the
organ. It has a fine old crusty Puritan flavour about it, which,
however, does not prevent the hero and heroine, in the last page,
reading a letter together, "with smiles, and little laughs, and sweet
asides, and sweeter kisses." Altogether, a book to read when a library
does _not_ contain WALTER SCOTT, ALEXANDRE DUMAS _père_, G.P.R. JAMES,
or HARRISON AINSWORTH. _Two Masters_ deals with passages in the life
of a young lady who is described as "a Boarding-school Miss" in Volume
I., and "a young she-fiend" in Volume III. However, it is only right
to say, that the last compliment is paid to her by a gentlemanly
murderer, who takes poison and a cigarette, with a view to escaping a
justly-deserved death on the gallows. From this it may be seen, that
the novel is at times slightly sensational. Fearing that his Christmas
might be saddened by this last ghastly incident, were not the
impression created by it partially removed by less highly-seasoned
fare, my faithful "Co." has also read _Mary Hamilton, a Tale for
Girls, My Schoolfellows_, and _Bonnie Boy's Soap Bubble_. He considers
the first admirably adapted to the comprehension of the readers to
whom it is addressed, only the girls, he says, should be _very_ young
girls. _My Schoolfellows_ he intends reading again when he has reached
his second childhood, when he fancies he will be better pleased with
the humours of "_Guzzling Gus_" and "_Ned Never Mind_." In conclusion,
he admits that he is a little doubtful about the merits or demerits of
_Bonnie Boy's Soap Bubble_. He explains, that while he was reading it
he "fell a thinking," and that when he woke up, the volume was lying
on the floor. Since then, he adds, he really has not had the leisure
to pick it up.
_The Snake's Pass_, by BRAM STOKER, M.A. (SAMPSON LOW), is a simple
love-story, a pure idyl of Ireland, which does not seem, after all, to
be so distressful a country to live in. Whiskey punch flows like milk
through the land; the loveliest girls abound, and seem instinctively
to be drawn towards the right man. Also there are jooled crowns to be
found by earnest seekers, with at least one large packing-case crammed
with rare coins. The love-scenes are frequent and tempting. BRAM has
an eye to scenery, and can describe it. He knows the Irish peasant,
and reproduces his talk with a fidelity which almost suggests that he,
too, is descended from one of the early kings, whereas, as everyone
knows, he lives in London and adds grace and dignity to "the front" of
the Lyceum on First Nights and others. He is perfectly overwhelming
in his erudition in respect of the science of drainage, which, if all
stories be true, he might find opportunity of turning to account in
the every-day (or, rather, every-night) world of the theatre. In his
novel he utilises it in the preliminaries of shifting a mighty bog,
the last stages whereof are described in a chapter that, for sustained
interest, recalls CHARLES READE's account of the breaking of the
Sheffield Reservoir. The novel-reader will do well not to pass by _The
Snake's Pass_. THE BARON DE BOOK-WORMS & CO.
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