26 JANUARY 1884, Page 25

Kelvington : a Tale for the Turf and the Table.

By " Whitebelt." (Wyman and Sons.)—We are inclined to think that this tale is some- what contra bones mores. The man who tells the story, in the first person, represents himself as realising a handsome fortune by reckless betting on horses. Perhaps it should be reckoned as a set-off that he has previously been well-nigh ruined by speculations on the Stock Exchange. On the whole, the Stock Exchange may be considered to be more noxious than the Turf. Of course, there is the usual ad- mixture of love-making, made remarkable by a doable rescue on the part of the hero. He first saves the fair one from being carried over a precipice by her runaway horse, and then saves her father from being drowned, when he has tumbled into the sea in passing from a steamer to the pier. Surely this is using up the resources of the novelist somewhat extravagantly.