29 JANUARY 1898, Page 12

The Wooing of May. By Alan St. Aubyn. (F. V.

White and Co.)—May Lindsay is as unconscionable a little flirt as ever has been seen in fiction. Nothing but nearly breaking her back was able to cure her of the habit. Her " earryings-on " are described with a certain amount of skill, but we cannot speak very highly of the other parts of the story. The alleged murder is not a well- contrived affair, and as for the second-sight, it has a very strange appearance when translated from its native home.—The Knight's Tale. By F. Emily Phillips. (W. Blackwood and Sons.)—Miss Phillips has manifestly something to say, but her manner of saying it is very strange. What she writes is certainly not

English, and it scarcely looks as if it had ever been French. Here is a specimen, which might be matched with many : "At that age Louis had probably only that motive to have a good time which obviously involved a frank assertion of egotism." The final scene of the tale is in the capture of Paris by the Versailles troops. This is described with abundance of vigour, and, curiously enough, the awkwardness of style is hardly recognisable.