26 DECEMBER 1868, Page 25

Who will be Queen of the Tournament ? and Other

Stories. By Robert St. John Corbet. (Cassell, Potter, and Galpin.)—Various kinds of childish revels, from dressings-up and swimming matches, to a real tournament in armour, ate described in this book. There is too much straining after effect in it, a sort of juvenile sensationalism which reminds us of grown-up artifice, and is therefore an improper element in a work intended for a simpler age. The style is not only sensa- tional, but spasmodic. Still, there are some pretty scones, one or two pleasant surprises, and occasional jokes in the book, so that it need not ba treated too harshly.