20 FEBRUARY 1904, Page 23

Dickens's London. By Francis Miltown. (E vele igh Nash. 6s.

net.)—Mr. Miltown has very little to tell us that we did not know before, and he has no charm of style or manner to give a new attraction to old matter. Here is a specimen of his way of writing :—" Chancery Lane is largely identified with the story of Bleak House.' The garden of Lincoln's Inn was fondly referred to by little Miss Flite as her garden.' Law' offices, stationers' shops, and eating-houses abound in the purlieus of Chancery Lane, which, though having undergone considerable change in the last quarter century, has still, in addition to the majesty' which is supposed to surround the law, something of those disowned relations of the law and hangers-on' of which Dickens wrote." This sort of thing is very "tolerable and not to be endured." The reader may alight now and then on something readable ; he will certainly see a number of illustrations more or less interest.. ing (what is the meaning of the crowd gathered in front of the residence of John Forster, Lincoln's Inn Fields ?) Bat, as a whole, the book cannot be accorded a high place in the list of Dickens literature. It is only fair to say that it is very well got up.