In Handsome Jack, and other Stories — of prison life and low - class
misery, alcoholism, and camaraderie--(Ward and Downey), Mr. James Greenwood shows,—and to greater advantage than in any- thing he has published since "The Amateur Casual,"—his almost Dickensish power of entering into the life and humour to be dis- covered in the purlieus of household-suffrage citizenship. We are rather surprised that Mr. Greenwood should have given the first place in his title-page and in his book to " Handsome Jack." It is merely a story of how two rather commonplace ruffians try to circumvent each other ; and even as such it is inferior in drollery to "The Precious Pickle-Jar." Practical joking, chiefly upon sordid or scoundrelly natures, takes up a good deal of this volume; its author's ingenuity in this way is seen to advantage in " The Witch of Blue Anchor Alley " and " Goldbug's Bargain," in both of which niggardliness is outwitted, and to some extent softened. But Mr. Greenwood is seen at his best in the stories which exhibit the almost redeeming power of childish simplicity on sodden vice, such as " Tom the Tinker " and " Redbreast." " Redbreast " is at once the most touching and the most artistically written sketch in this collection.
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