... * The dominating note of Mr. William Le Quenx's hero is generosity. There never was a man who enjoyed so unique an experience. I can quite imagine the ashes of Mr. Rider Haggard's She coming together again from the fires of death to protest against Cecil Holcombe's performance. It is true that She could kill a gentleman by smiling upon him-- but this was mere child's-play side by side with ...

... HOES D'CEUYRES. There is no doubt that the Monstrous Regiment of Women dreaded by John Knox is come upon us, in the philanthropic world. The Temperance Women (not always Temperate Women) are in our pulpits, on our platforms, on committees, and on the rampage. Not that anybody need specially object to their presence. If we could substitute young, fluent, and attractive females for many of the ...

... . BY DOROTHY LOWNDES. The butler had just announced Mr. Hervey, and then retired with courteous resentment of having been called up to admit so frequent a visitor. Dulcie threw down her book, and came forward to meet him before be could cross the room. Why, Dal, this is fortunate I was dying for someone to talk to, she said. Take that chair there. Take care don't sit on Dodo.' I have thrown ...

... * Mr. Mummery is a bold man. Not because lie climbs up by cracks in the face of vertical precipices, as depicted in this work, and is quite happy when compelled to proceed along the lower edge of an over hanging slab, supported mainly by gripping the lower edge of this slab between our fingers and thumbs, while our legs sprawled about on the next slab below in a way which suggested that such ...

... THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. AN ENEMY OF NAPOLEON.' This book is rightly regarded by its editor as the most formidable indictment of the mail for whom M. Duruy has a profound veneration. There is no other instance in history of an editor launching at the memory he most highly esteems a bolt which he believes to have been forged by a miscreant. Harms loathed Napoleon, and left his Memoirs to his ...

... . So rarely is an opera a real compound of drama and music that I should have been deeply grieved to miss La Navarraise, the remarkable work which, even if it does not show Massenet at his best, has remarkable quality. It is not easy to find works in which the musical atmosphere is so impressive. Not only does the constantly repeated opening phrase sound a fearful note of tragedy, but even ...

... . We all like to hear about the world of books, the changes that sweep over it in the course of years, the movement of literary fashion and popularity. If that was the text on which I sought information, I could not (a Sketch interviewer remarks) have gone to a better man than Mr. Arthur E. Miles. He very courteously let me call upon him, and, between my going and coming away, told me a ...

... .* A book has just come into my hands which I strongly advise everyone to read who is doubtful where to go for a holiday. It is called Wild England of To-Day, and is written by Mr. C. J. Cornish, who lately gave us a book of clever Zoo -reflections. Perhaps it was because the preface said that most of the papers (it is a collection of papers) had appeared in the Spectator that I began to ...

... * Mr. Mallock has never been an exponent of the superficial; in whatever he writes is found both depth of thought and sincerity of treatment. Whether he is dealing with the statistics of social regeneration, the economic questions that agitate political circles, or the more subtle and not less interesting ones of love and sex, his keen analysis and broad summaries appear as fruitful isles in ...

... THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. TWO SUFFOLK FRIENDS. He was no ordinary man whom Thackeray, not long before his death, named as one of the two friends he had loved most, and whose coming rough-tongued Carlyle hailed as bringing him welcome and wholesome solace. It is of the dear old Fitz, to whom Tennyson dedicated Tiresias, and whose Letters, on their publication, brought a new star into ...

... THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. THE REAL CHARLOTTE.* The two authors of The Real Charlotte have proved themselves capable of a notable achievement. They have produced a story which deals with a commonplace and sordid phase of modern Irish life, and which is yet interesting and readable, as have been few of the novels purporting to give a true account of life in the distressful country. Widely ...

... . The Ben Greet Comedy Company, which now includes Mr. Henry B. Irving (Sir Henry s elder son) as leading man, occupied the boards of the Richmond Theatre for three nights in last week, appearing in Masks and Faces, Money, and The Lady of Lyons. Notwithstanding the mark that Mr. Irving has already made on the Metropolitan stage by his performances in A Fool's Paradise, at the Garrick ...