11 FEBRUARY 1888, Page 25

Puffs from the Engine of War. By "An Officer of

the Line." (W. H. Allen and Co.)—These are military stories, but, as usual, have little or nothing to do with war. If we have Mars, be is not wandering dub us in armig, but dallying with Venus,—quite in a proper way, it must be understood. There is some fun in the stories, and they are generally readable. Being this, they have attained the object of their existence.—The Danvers Jewels (Bentley and Son), is a well-constructed story of a robbery elaborately plotted, success- fully carried out, and ultimately defeated by that modern Nemesis of triumphant crime, the railway accident. The tale is a good one of its kind.