17 NOVEMBER 1900, Page 9

The Lord's Purse-Bearers. By Hesba Stretton. (R.T.S. is. Gd.)— Miss

Hesba Stretton has a strong conviction that it is a serious offence to give to a beggar, and she enforces it on her readers in this story. A very painful story it is, not indeed as regards its principal character, but in some of its episodes. The tale of Isaac Chippendell's degradation and death-bed is full of the most lurid colours, and yet we cannot say that there is any exaggera- tion. We do not exactly know for whom this story is meant,—it cannot be for children. But of its power there can be no question.