FICTION.
CAPTAIN" DIEPPE.t Captain Dieppe is correctly described in the publishers' announce- ment as a story of The Prisoner of Zenda period. To fix that period would be no easy matter, for no dates are given and the mode of life is at once mediaeval and modern. Revolvers are mentioned, but not motor-cars. There are no topical allusions, or modern slang ; but on the other hand there is no " tushery " or Wartiour Street archaism. This double freedom from actuality and archaeology forms one of the chief attractions of what may be called Ruritanic romance, and Anthony Hope's return to the field In which he won his most resounding successes is especially wel- come at a time when it is good (for some people at any rate) to eseape from the tyranny of the present. Our chief com- plaint against the story is that there is not enough of it, but so far as it goes it is a pleasant anodyne. A haze of uncertainty hangs over the Captain's antecedents ; but he is a most engaging soldier of fortune, terribly susceptible, yet by no means devoid of conscience. As for the story, it is enough to say that by chance he arrived on foot at a village on the Italian border; by chance he was welcomed by an amiable Count and given hospitality in his castle ; and by chance again he was the means of rescuing a charming lady from a sad embarrassment, and enabled to send a blackmailing rascal to the right-about and inflict a humiliating defeat on the police-agent who wished to secure his papers. But this did not exhaust the luck of the Captain For when against his will he fell in love with the wife of his host, and when his honour was opposed to his happiness and he was reduced to the most distressing plight—well, at this point the reader must be referred to the book itself for the solution of the imbroglio. The Captain, as he himself admits, was a very fortunate fellow. It may be hypercritical, but we think he deserved a more romantic name. We should smile at' a French romancist who, mutates mutandis, called his hero le Capitaine Brighton.
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