20 DECEMBER 1890, Page 26

Nutshell Novels. By J. Ashby- Sterry. (Hutchinson and Co.)— 'This

crowded but trivial volume affords a confirmation of the old saying, "Too much of a good thing is good for nothing." Taken separately, or even two at a time, Mr. Ashby-Sterry's stories are -" very tolerable, and—to be endured ; " but a whole big book full of such trivialities as " A Dive for a Darling," and "Woskin," is -quite another thing. Mr. Ashby-Sterry has been ill-advised in doing the other thing. He has added another terrible example to the long list of superfluous reprints.