14 JANUARY 1893, Page 22

The Gentlewoman at Home. By Mrs. Talbot Coke. (Henry and

Co.)—Mrs. Talbot Coke instructs and advises her readers about many things of domestic interest. She ranges from the building of a house to the adorning of a table. (As to the house, some-

thing more definite about the windows would have been desir- able; the picturesque casement window is most inconvenient, yet elsewhere (p. 61) the author seems to favour it.) There is some good counsel in "Cutting your coat," and wise suggestions in "On the Shelf." In "By Land and Sea," Ivo have sensible suggestions for travellers ; in "Looking Back," again, we find some interesting details of domestic affairs in the past. In the matter of dress, 1814 seems to have been a golden age,—for the consumer. Hero is a dressmaker's bill : —" For making a damask gown, lined silk, 3s. 6d.; for making a superfine crepe ball-dress, 3s. 6d.; for making a hood and lined. coats, 7s. Od. ; dimity, territ, silk, and bone, 2s. Od."