13 FEBRUARY 1897, Page 24

Stripped of the Tinsel. By J. E. Muddock. (Digby and

Long.) —Mr. Muddock has not a very pleasing set of people to introduce to us. On p. 42 he tells us that "very few clergymen practise what they preach." This seems a little hard, and we cannot help thinking, when he goes on to remark that "true charity is conspicuous by its absence from the clerical heart," that there are non-clerical hearts which would be better for a little of the virtue. But as he develops his story and its characters we find such a set of fools, drunkards, and profligates, that even a non-practising, uncharitable clergyman shows up as an angel of light. The fact is that Stripped of the Tinsel is a very silly, ill-written story.