17 SEPTEMBER 1898, Page 24

Over the Open. By W. Phillpotts Williams. (F. V. White

and Co.)—There is plenty of lively dialogue, mostly concerning hounds and horses, in Mr. Williams's tale. The plot is sufficient to start the story, which depends a great deal on the sporting that and the humours of an Irish groom. The hero is a Master of the Fox Hounds who goes into a new country, travels across the ocean, is supposed to have gone down in a ship, and turns up suddenly in the hunting-field ; rather a trying shock, one cannot help thinking, to the young lady he is in love with. It is a read- able tale, the description of hunting society is true enough, and this particular set, be it said, is a somewhat superior one.