14 JANUARY 1893, Page 21

The outstanding featuro of Atalanta for 1893, to whose incor-

poration with The Victorian Magazine we recently alluded, is Mr. R. L. Stevenson's new story of "David Balfour." It is a sequel to " Kidnapped ; " indeed, the basis of it is the Appin murder, which occurs in "Kidnapped," and of which Alan Brook is not unnaturally suspected. But it will evidently be something more,—Mr. Stevenson's first serious attempt at a love-story. Meanwhile, it may be said of "David Balfour" that it promises to be one of the strongest and yet least fantastic of its author's works. Prestongrange, the Scotch Lord-Advocate, to whom David Balfour appeals, is as good a character—to say the least of it—as even Mr. Stevenson has drawn. To the January number of Atalanta, also, Dr. Tapp contributes a sketch (with portrait) of Mr. Stevenson. It is tasteful, and not at all overdone, and even gives agreeable glimpses, not only of the novelist, but of that evidently very remarkable man, his father. Another outstanding feature of an admirable number of Atalanta is a sketchy study of Tennyson by the Hon. Roden Noel, the critical tone of which may be judged by this verdict : "On the whole, Tennyson is probably our poet of fullest achievement since Milton."