DAVID MARCH. By J. S. Fletcher. (Jarrolds. 7s. 6d.) —Few
living writers excel Mr. Fletcher in historical fiction of the older kind that traces its lineage to Sir Walter Scott. David March is a new edition, after some years, of one of his pleasantest stories. The period is that of Charles the Second, and the hero is a youth who has been adopted by a Yorkshire blacksmith. On coming of age, David, having completed his apprenticeship at the forge, sets -forth to see the world, to /earn the craft of fine metal-work, and, incidentally, to discover if possible the secret of his parentage. His varied adventures take him to London and to the Continent, and bring him into touch with Sir Christopher Wren, Judge Jeffreys, and the King himself. He passes through difficulties and tribulation, and the mystery surrounding his birth is well sustained and in- geniously revealed at last. All the time, of course, we know that a happy ending awaits us, and that the hint of idyllic love in the first chapter of this breezy and very spontaneous narrative will be gracefully fulfilled.
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