2 NOVEMBER 1889, Page 43

The Son of John Humble. By G. Norway. (Blackie and

Son.)— This is a very spirited story of the sea, interspersed with pleasant and lively sketches of Scandinavian manners. John Humble is the son of a Swedish peasant, left an orphan in early childhood, and transferred to the care of his uncles at Stockholm. He sails with one of them on a voyage to England, in the days when Napoleon was seeking to league Europe against England, is caught by a press-gang, but allowed to escape from the ship. Then comes the story of the casting-away, and of life on the desolate land on which the shipwrecked seamen are cast,—as good a story of the kind as we have ever seen. The silent Jaens is a peculiarly good figure; and so, of a higher type, is the captain, Erlingsen. The picture of the Lapland visitors to the shipwrecked men's encampment, and of their ways, is very bright and graphic.