Good supply of all sorts of game at Christmas, and especially from the
preserves of Messrs. DE LA RUE. Try "Animal Snap" and see how you like
it. Thanks to DEAN AND SON--_i.e._, Senior DEAN and Junior DEAN--for
their _Golden Hours_, _The Prize_, _Peeps into Paradise_, and _The
Venetian Blind Moveable Picture Book_, the last being the best of
all. And DEAN'S Cracker Toy-books will certainly go _off_ well. _As we
Sweep through the Deep._ "Quite the light publishers for tales of the
sea are 'NELSON AND SONS,'" quoth the Baron, "and no doubt they
hope that every man will do his duty at Christmas time and go in for
Nelsonian boys and girls books." "_As we Sweep_" is by that true Horse
Marine (if there is anything in a name), yclept Dr. GORDON STABLES,
R.N.
[Illustration]
The Baroness recommends _The Rosebud Annual_. A lovely posy of
pictures and tales to be found on the shelf of JAMES CLARKE & CO.,
Publishers, and, the Baroness supposes, Nursery Gardeners. "Natural
this," quoth a Baronite, "here is a _Miss Parson's Adventures_ told by
a Clark RUSSELL!" If you want it send to CHAPMAN AND HALL. And all
the Baronites say many thanks to MACMILLAN & CO. for a delightful new
edition of Miss MARY MITFORD RUSSELL'S _Our Village_.
Our compliments to Mrs. LOVETT CAMERON on _A Tragic Blunder_. A blow
given by mistake to the wrong person nearly ruins the entire happiness
of several people, but it all comes right at the end of two vols. from
Mrs. CAMERON'S pen. It is a nice light entertainment with which to
while away an hour or two.
"I like _Richard Escott_," says the Baron, laying down the
Macmillanitish one-volume novel of that name written by E. H. COOPER.
"It is an interesting story, and might be the first of a series
similar to the _Rougon Macquart_ family, as, when this tale finishes,
there are sufficient _Escotts_ alive to carry on the story of their
family through many generations, only, unfortunately, the date of this
story cannot be taken further back than, say, about ten years ago,
if that. To give the family breathing-time, we should require some
stories about the ESCOTTS under Queen ANNE and the GEORGES, and then
we could return to the fortunes of the sons and daughters the _Richard
Escott_.
"With fear and trembling, yet with a sensation of enjoying some secret
wicked pleasure," quoth the Baron, confidentially, "I retired with Mr.
ASHBY STERRY'S _Naughty Girl_ into my _sanctum_, which, as its name
implies, is just the very place to which I ought to retire with a
young lady bearing such a character." _A Naughty Girl_ is published in
the "Modern Library Series" brought out by Messrs. BLISS, SANDS, AND
FOSTER; and how happy would SANDS be--run out, of course--and where
would FOSTER be unless foster'd by the other two--without BLISS, who
makes quite a little 'eaven below of this Publishing Firm. Blissful
must have been Mr. ASHBY STERRY'S state when he wrote so excellent
a Dickensian description, as he has done in the earlier part of this
book, of Boxing Night at Drury Lane, and when he gave a finishing
touch to this story in showing how _Beryl_ and _Jack_ were brought
together in spite of a temporary misunderstanding and estrangement.
"Bravo Pantalaureate of many a frilling poem! A Happy Christmas to you
and your readers!" quoth the warm-hearted and appreciative