17 APRIL 1880, Page 22

Days and Nights in London. By J. Ewing Ritchie. (Tinsley

Brothers.)—Mr. Ritchie portrays in vivid terms his experiences of music-halls, lodging-houses, refreshment-bars, opium dens, and such-like London scenes, places which "respectable" people know- nothing and are content to know nothing about, but which it certainly is not either right or safe to ignore. The picture, on the whole, is a depressing one. What millenniums must pass, before any- thing like common morality, not to speak of any such thing as-reli- gion, can penetrate the masses of this great city ! And still a: yet more hopeless feature is the popularity with the middle-class, which at least, has the opportunity of better things, of a journalism which represents music-hall morality and taste.