... REOENT NOVELS. Mrs. Oliphant has travelled citywards in search Df a plot for her latest novel, At His Gates (3 vols., Tinsley Brothers); and her story has gained Donsiderably in power by the admission of money .As a motive. Novelists, as a rule, err in over- weighting their characters with attachment for pach other. In real life the seat of the affections lies quite as often in the pocket ...

... i CURRENT LITERA TURE. , A book df ramblings in an unknown, or little known, country is shorn of half its utility when published without a map. That there is no rnap .to- Mr. Clarence King's NMountainaring inthe Sierra Xevada (London: Sampson 'Low, Mars- ton, Low, and Searle, 1 vol.) is the chief fault we 'have to find with it. Themerits of tthe work are numerous.; Written with'spirit, but ...

... I =TI THE. Nma mOT THE SOCIET YOFPAINnhR.lwATytooU , The Eiehibition of Sketches and Studies by th' members of the Water Colour Society has yO Sitear decade of gradual departure from its orig0in I 4 developed into one that completely rivals the exhif of finished drawings which occupies the summer al water colour painters, like the rest of theiruaoni c 4 present day, seem to find It impossible ...

... . _ , . ?? BRITISH ORCHESTRAL SOCIETY. The inaugural performnance of this new society, j on December 6,, has already been noticed; and We havo now to record the second concert, which took place last week, when the selection performed was as follows: Ovorture, Leonora, ?? Iseethoven Air, Mes Salvation is nigh, ?? I W. Sterndale Bennctt Corcerto, Violoncello (No. a, B minor) ?? Goltra ...

... .i I D a ?? A.i ; lGEQUESTRIAN PERFO ?? .- EHorse-riding and the aorobatio,' saltatory, Qnd D other performanees, whioh seem to be inepaerably con. nesoted with it, are essentially winter entertainments. Thus, for many months London, which only last winter numbered no less then three circuses, has 'ben absolutely without a place of amusement of this kiad.. Astley's, still associated, in name ...

... T- E CATTLSH BOW. I There was en increased number of visitors at the Cattle Show at the Agrioultursl-hall jesterday. It was the second day when the Show is opento the public. and the arrivals of country exoursionists vere much more numerous than on the previous day, while larger numbers of Londoners appeared in the afternoon. Should the weather promise toI be finer, as the change of wind last ...

... I VIEWS AT THE NO=IETY OF ARTS. I Lees night Captain on LyfoWO the promise which he had given last Week of showing, by means of the eamers, another saelies of $psotographi t o ilustrtive ofthenan Tmple architecture, Ravint-n the former occasion seen the principal vlewo -00be South, the audience was this time conducted, vii:at& and Alesandria, to Madras, north ofe which lis thes ;Tputry Temple, ...

... ; ~ D - - 4 .I . ?? GAIETY. A now veraion of Marcel, produced at tho Gaiety Theatre on Sqturday iiorng, on the oocasion ofrMr. John Clayton's benefi, has afforded that gesileman au opportunity ofappearing in the oharaoter of the unhappy father, whose eradual restortion to reason constitute3 the theme of the piece. In noticing the versionby Mri Olemept Scott recentlyproduced at the GlobebIvo ...

... RECENT NOTEL. - Novels written, not because the author has some-i uthing to say, but because the world vant som thing to read, will perhaps please everyone but the reviewer, 'who is ompealled to road them whether he likes it or no. people do not suf- fiaiently sympathise with him. His snarls, his ivenom, his envy, are hold up to public reproba- tion; an author whom we0 are about to notice ...

... T- E TRE RECENT METEOR SHWEEB. - | Much interest has been excited by the recent occurrence of a fine display of shooting stars. It has been supposed by many that the falling stars seen on the evening of Wednesday, November 27, belong to the so-called November system, and that the display had simply been delayed 'ak;fortuight owing to some displacement 1 lthe syste ofl meteors, and it is quite ...

... OURRT LITE-E M ?? . o C7URRENT XLTERATURE. | t Kennare there is a nunnery wherein one o the sisters busies herself with producing literary. mvorks in honour at once of her country and her faith. The last of these productions is euntftlie 4 The Liberator; hip Life and .Times, P61itioal, Social, and -Religious (London: ULogma se Green, add Co., .1 vol.). As v; epqcpien qf' bookbinding, ...

... I The only fault we have to find with Colonel Corvin's In France with the Germans (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 2 'vols.) is the late riord ofBitsappearance. If it had been published immediately after the termination of the war, its success with the English publio would have been more decided. The contents, indeed, have already 1 appeared in an English magazine, in whole or in i part. ...