27 MAY 1893, Page 24

Essays in Miniature. By Agnes Repplier. (Gay and Bird.)— Whatever

subject she handles, be it an incident in social life, or a point in literature, Agnes Repplier treats it with the true literary touch and skill. Thoughtful and yet light, generous but never forgetting the true function of criticism, her essays have that delightful flavour of thought and suggestion about them which. realises the perfection of an essay in miniature. The kernel is as good as the fruit, for the author never forgets the point she is insisting upon, but holds to it and makes it clearer with every little graphic phrase spent upon it. Such subjects as the choice of books, the trials of a publisher, the superabundance of notes in some books, the scene at the Custom-house inspection of passengers' luggage, and a "By-Way in Fiction" (a discourse on a charming, indefinite, and rambling sketch by a Mr. Henry Fuller), are treated with exquisite common-sense.