The Delectable Duchy. By "Q." (Cassell and Co.)—These 'Stories, Studies,
and Sketches" are, we are inclined to think, the beat work that the able writer who calls himself " Q " has yet done. They are distinctly original, they leave a strong impres- sion.on the reader's mind, they are evidently the work of one who knows his subject and likes it. Sometimes our author paints for us the seamy side of Dnchy-life,—the Duchy, we need hardly say,. is Cornwall. "Daphnis," for instance, is a rural tragedy in a small compass. So, of quite another kind, is the "Regent's Wager." "Q," who is always great in surprises, here outdoes himself; but we are glad that he does not give us more of this very ghastly kind. The leisurely ways of a Cornish railway, the humour of "Seven-an'-Six," somewhat grim, it must be confessed,. are more to our ordinary taste. The sorrows of the poor are most sympathetically touched in several of the stories, such as "The Golden Wedding," "The Paupers." This is indeed the most heart-breaking thing that one sees in English life, the hard- working poor gravitating by a law which it is hardly possible to counteract, to the workhouse.
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