Our Homely Comedy and Tragedy. By the Author of "The
Recreations of a Country Parson." (Longmane.)—Here are some thirty or forty years' " idylls," essays, reminiscences of the dead, and —less to be admired—encomiums of the living. The best, we think, are the twelve which the author writes about "A Little City in Peace and in Seeress." The "Little City," it must be understood, is St. Andrews, a place which seems to make itself dearer to its alumni than any other where Scottish learning dwells. The central figure in these is Principal Talloch, and nothing could be better than the tribute which is here given to his genius and character. Altogether, this is a very pleasing volume. We knew the author before to be a cultured, kindly, wide-minded man ; and the impression is deepened. If we might venture a remonstrance, it is that he is a little hard on English—we mean Anglican—preaching. He makes exceptions, indeed, but we fear that, for the most part, it seems to him "fatuous " (that is his favourite epithet). It might very well be better, but surely it has improved greatly during the last quarter of a century.
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