26 DECEMBER 1885, Page 22

Through the Fray : a Tale of the Luddite Riots.

By G. A. Beaty. (Blackie and Son.)—Mr. Rents-, as would be expected, will not -dis-

appoint by this tale hid." dear lade," to whom he presents it in his preface ; he is an old and tried friend. The causes of the Luddite movement are briefly noticed ; and the incidents of the murder and

the attack upon the mill, as described in the tale, are, as he informs us, strictly accurate in all their details. His old and new friends alike will, we doubt not, be more than satisfied with the pleasant and wholesome reading provided for them. The interest never flags,and culminates in the "trial" scene, which is very life-like and real ; but we leave the author to tell his own tale. Some of the illustra- tions are rather indistinct, and a sufficient proportion is "pugilistic," in the strict sense of that word. The anecdote in illustration of the "cropper" character iii p. 61, though no doubt very "powerful," strikes us as "strong meat" for juvenile readers.