... THE HEAVENLY TWINS.* IF Mr. Frederic Harrison is right and the novel is played out, it cannot be for lack of material. Our absorption in social questions, says Mr. Harrison, is one potent reason why fiction is declining; but Madame Sarah Grand's novel is inspired by a social problem, and she is so far from being gravelled for lack of matter that three closely printed volumes of about ...

... THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. THE ITALIAN ORGAN-GRINDER IN ENGLAND# Signor Paulucci di Cabboli, Secretary to the Italian Embassy in London, has penned a most exhaustive work concerning the Italian street musicians in England. The work covers every inch of ground on the subject, from the invention of the hand-organ to the report of the debates in the House of Commons on the laws controlling the ...

... JANE ANNIE; OR. THE GOOD CONDUCT PRIZE, AT THE SAVOY THEATRE. Once upon a time there were two girls, Bab and Jane Annie-- it is a pity the latter was not simply called Jane, the rest of her name makes a big mouthful; however, she was not like Mr. Ross's Jane, who begged to explain that she would not do it again, since Jane Annie hopes to do it again for a hundred nights or so. These two ...

... .* If, owing to the great strides made of late years in the physical sciences, such as electricity, the public mind has been more or less led away from the study and contemplation of the antediluvian inhabitants of our world, it should be, to some extent, led back again by Mr. Hutchinson's most interesting book, of which a new edition has just been issued. There are fashions in all things, ...

... THE BOOK AND ITS STORY, RECOLLECTIONS OF AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS.* Ismael Pasha, Khedive of Egypt, was a very enlightened man, and anxious to do the best, so far as lay in his power, for his children and for his country-- for his country through his children. To this end he gave much thought to their education, and being convinced of the value of English training, he was so courageous as to ...

... . A blank week in May is startling to the dramatic critic-- not a single new performance, not one unseen lever de rideau, not a summer madness matinee! Yet it is the fact that from May 15 to the 20th no novelties have been presented. There should have been the two performances of Signora Duse, but, unluckily, it happens that the voyage has upset her, and she has postponed her appearance for a ...

... SPORTING DOG S Almost an encyclopedic work is this, treating with consummate knowledge and plenteous detail of all the dogs known to English sportsmen, and with some breeds which are characteristic of the best side of sport on the Continent. Mr. Lee rightly begins his pages with a well-considered chapter on the bloodhound, the great father of modern sporting dogs, to whom, perhaps, the best of ...

... THE PLAY AND ITS STORY. LEIDA, AT THE COMEDY THEATRE. Those in whom the artistic impulse is implanted resemble wild birds try to cage them and clip their wings, and, like the starling that the Sentimental Journey's hero saw in Paris, they will distract you by incessantly calling, I can't get out-- I can't get out, or will die as do nightingales, which, if caged, beat their heads to ...

... . To few people, even among his own countrymen, does mention, of Bernardin de St. Pierre's name recall anything beyond the fact that he was the author of Paul and Virginia. It is right, no doubt, that he should be remembered as such, but less than just that he should be remembered only as such. It is well to wear an immortal feather in one's cap, but not well to stand for ever in its shadow. ...

... THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 41 Despite the fact that both the son and the son-in-law of Nathaniel Hawthorne have constituted themselves Boswells to their famous kinsman, there is plenty of room for Mr. Horatio Bridge's little volume of memories. Originally published in the form of articles in Harper's Magazine, it has no pretensions to the title of ...

... . Mr. Anstey's Punch's Pocket Ibsen* is a brilliant and mirth -pro Yoking little book, and in its clever exaggeration and ridicule of Ibsen's methods shows that the writer has studied the master pretty conscientiously. Probably it is the most appreciative and enthusiastic admirers of the great Norwegian's plays who will most appreciate the fun of Mr. Anstey's travesty, for, like all ...

... THE BOOK AND ITS STORY. STATESMAN AND SCRIBE.1 An occidental traveller in the East, standing- before the great shrine at Kamakura, once expressed a wish that Buddha could behold his own image. To pursue that regret into the Temple of Literature one might mentally ejaculate on laying down the compact volume just issued by Osgood, McIlvaine, Oh, that Horace Walpole could read Mr. Austin Dobson ...