12 OCTOBER 1901, Page 23

A Nest of Linnets. By Frankfort Moore. With 16 Illustrations

by J. Jellicoe. (Hutchinson and Co. Os )—A Nest of Linnets gives us the story of Sheridan's love affair and early marriage in a brilliant setting of the Bath society of the day. Sir Joshua Reynolds, Garrick, Horace Walpole, Dr. Johnson, Oliver Gold- smith, George Selwyn, Mrs. Abingdon, and other well-known personages play their part in Mr. Frankfort Moore's most lively and entertaining comedy. But the hero is Mr. Walter Long. the middle-aged man of perfect magnanimity and manifold accomplishment to whom Elizabeth Linton engages herself in order to escape the hated publicity of a great singer's career. Dick Sheridan comes in as the most charming of boys, and Mr. Long yields Betsy to him with exquisite generosity. The book is exceedingly pleasant as well as clever, and we cordially recommend it to almost every sort of reader.