12 SEPTEMBER 1914, Page 24

A Lad of Kent. By Herbert Harrison. (Macmillan and Co.

6s.) — The date of this novel is the year 1808, and there are many adventures in it concerning the "Free Traders " of that day. The mystery of the hero's birth is con- cealed till the very last page, and the reader will in con- sequence be rather puzzled by some of his adventures. The story is attractive, but whether it is true that the children of that day conversed in " Wardour Street English" for their private entertainment is not certain. It may have been so, but that particular sort of language inevitably gives a modern air to the book. The woman smuggler, Captain Meg, is a most attractive figure, and the reader will be quite sorry when she marries at the end of the book and subsides into private life.