Mr. Ralph Nevill has written his best book in The
Gay Victorians (Nash and Grayson, 21$.), and his best is very good as his worst is—not so good. We have found, in previous volumes by Mr. Nevill, occasional inaccuracies and- other marks of haste, but in his present work, so far as our admittedly cursory acquaintance .of the night -life of Victorian London goes, none appear ; although phrases such as " so much so was this the case " can hardly be considered elegant. But Mr. Nevill is not courting comparison with essayists—for instance, with Mr. G. S. Street in his Ghosts of Piccadilly—. but is telling the story of the London he loves in days wheh constables wore top-hats, and when the Jubilee Juggins was the -talk of the town. Mr. Nevin is very amusing about the Shah, and he ought to know all about that famous visit, His book is full of laughs and information.
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