The editors of Hood's Comic Annual have, as usual, taken
great pains to give their readers abundance and variety, both in letterpress and in illustrations. Within the compass of not mach over a hundred pages, they give over forty pieces in prose and verse. But is the skit or the practical joke taking the place of the old-fashioned love-story at Christmas-time ? It would almost seem so, for out of all these forty pieces, there is hardly one that can be regarded as serious or pathetic. Perhaps as near an approach to such as can be mentioned is "Cupid's Tattoo," by Mr. Byron Webber ; and even in it the comedy is of more importance than the love-making, to which it forms the background. Among the best prose pieces in this year's Annual are "The Endless Duel of Over-Danbury," by Mr. J. W. Houghton ; "Such an Awful Muff," by Mr. John Northoott; "Loafing and Loving," by the author of "My Neighbour Nellie ;" and "Bismarck in London," by Mr. G. R. Sims. This last, which tells of the exploits of a clever swindler in London who passes himself off as the German Chancellor travelling incognito, is really very comic. Many of the verses, particularly those by Mr. Manville Fenn and Mr. H. C. Newton, are much above the average of the season.
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