... CHRISTMAS _BOOS. ly BRIAR Asn rALT A Study of Ciroemstance and Inpau- 3y OnCe. Dy ANNSI] S. SWAY. [Edinburgh.: Oliphant, tli Anderson, anld Co.] is- There is always a singular loclicacy of touch about hliss Swan's work, a nice discrimination in the shades and a a feolinig of the growth and evolution of character. This Las story comes in aill the vatward guise of a Christmas gift- ly bool, and ...

... p rIODICA9 FOR ?? Cf the ieten art ?? in the Reviewi there rl CIO~ f:: A.a srts pre-easinience ; the number is is and thoughtful, but no't in any 0n'5it t oenswith a discourse on the ?? uoo for 1889, but the writer has no a~: pe r co- hecy than other people. Ho tells odeo I -lot it iS as curtain ai that the sun will ; 0 5'OXxt. cance and IRussia will someday re,, tre t;; settle their account ...

... of Some months ago an article in the Tinae contained a summary of the results of a Japanese art tour in Europe, e as desbed by one of the Commissioners to a nawtie St audience on his return home. This tour was but a small 'he partothe work of the Commission, and was intended be to investigate the ?? and working of art mu1 Museums and educational institutions in the West. The B. more serious ...

... Tfl TURNfER OPERA COMPANY. A welcome relief from the stale jocularities and tinsel splendours of the pantomime, which closed its career at this house on Saturday night, is furnished this week by the visit of Mr. Turner's popular English Opera Com- pany. Leaving to other organisations of this kind the task of bringing forward new works, and ransacking the lyric archives of the past, Mr. Turner ...

... HOME ARTS AND INDTUSTMES ASSOCLkTION. The exhibition of this association will, by the invita- tion of the Kyrle Society, be held this year in the Birmingham Town Hall, and will be opened on the 3rd of June, by Countess Brownlow. The society's exhibi- tions have hitherto been held in various parts of London, and have received encouragement from the Princess of Wales and other members of the ...

... We have received copies of the following new books and new editions:- FICTION. New Popular Series of Standard Works published by Cassell and Co. Alreadv issued: The Last of the Alobicans, The Towser of London, Hoods Poems, ' andy Andy, The Ingoldsby Legends, Selections of American Humour, Jack Hinton, tle Guardsman, The Last Days of Palmyra, Ivanhoe, The Last Days of Pompeii ...

... NEW BO-OKS. -. GS. Fantastic Stories. Bv VEwa-ox LBx. tfilliam Heinemann.] * Ay four 'ttle tales, explains the author, are of gennine ghosts in the scientific sense; thev tell of no hauntings such as could be contributed by the Society for Psychical Research, of no spectres that can be caught in definite places and made to dictate Qicial evidence. The reader is the gainer that Vernon Lee ...

... WARWICXSTE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETYS SHOW. ise annual show of the Warwickshire Agricultural Society was opened yesterday, at Leamington, on a field adjoining Willes Road, in clo.e proximity to the Jephson Gardens, where an exhibition of fruit, flowers, and vegetables is also being held. Leamington is un- doubtedly one of the best, if not the best place in the county in which to. hold the meetings ...

... THE TURNER OPERA COMaA.NY ?? does not often prove so attractive in Birmiarn. ham as did the first .production of Flotow's 'Mart by the members of this company last night. the spacious auditorium was crowded in nearly every part, pit and bores vying with the gallery in their weirne of this tuneful addition to the Turner ripertoir, It is true that the work is not new here, having been performed ...

... P PICTUESQOx lNDIA. BY W S. CAINE. [Routledge.] This is something other and better than the ordinary gift-book, to which, however, it bears a superficial resemblance in its gay binding and its profuse illustrations. The ordinary gift-book, we take it, is one for which a permanent place is not claimed, which must be externally pretty, light, readable, amusing. Mr. Caine's object is more serious ...

... MEW BOOKS. TSr PA&nism oF Tim NowL . By DAIvD LAvwsox JomwsTOitE. [Remington and Co.]. A gentleman dying leaves a hundred thousand pounds to his daughter, with an injunction that she shall with it fit out and despatch an A.rctio expedition, and expressing a desire that her future husband should accompany the expedition as her representative. He gives special instructions as to the particular ...

... ROUND THE RING. When a new melodrama by Mr. Paul Merritt is announced lovers of that class of entertainment may generally feel sure that a good thing is in store for them. Not only does Mr. Merritt understand to a nicety the requirements of his patrons, but he is a Master of stage- craft, and bas the knack of writing dialogue that, while terse, is telling, and in the inevitable comic scenes ...