24 JUNE 1893, Page 12

Life's Tapestry ; or, Homes and Hearths. By Caradoc Granhire.

8 vols. (Ward and Downey.)—The three volumes published under the general title of Life's Tapestry comprise several stories which, whatever be their virtues—and they certainly have the virtue of harmlessness—are absolutely unreadable. The trail of the serpent, that is of the literary amateur, is over them all ; and Caradoe Granhim is that most trying kind of amateur who has a minimum of story, a maximum of sentimentality, and a sesqui- pedalian vocabulary which absolutely defies description. We do not like to speak with seventy of a maiden attempt, but even faint praise of Life's Tapestry would be incompatible with critical honesty.