20 AUGUST 1870, Page 24

The Young Mountaineer. By Daryl Helms. (Nimmo.)—Our tale- writers, as

well as our dramatists, seem to find it convenient to "adapt" from the French. Here the adaptation is of the simplest kind. The scenery, the manners, even the language, remain French, this last some- times ludicrously so. But the names are English; a change which, of course, does nothing but spoil the story. This is pretty enough, and not unamusing. A Swiss boy, son of a guide who has been killed, is adopted by a rich lady. The tale of how he fares in his new life, especially of how he strives to adapt himself to the manners of polite society, is told with some humour. But we fancy that the genuine article, as it came from the hands of the real author, Madlle. Gouraud, would have been better worth having.