Rates and Taxes. Edited by T. Hood. (Groombridge.)—The gentle- men
who last year set a Bunch of Keys jingling to the satisfaction of the public, present themselves on the present* occasion in the guise of the collectors of rates and taxes for the suburban parish of Squashleigh. We find them seated round a table at the Greyhound discoursing of parish matters in general, and the new curate, a fine specimen of muscular Christianity, in particular. Having arrived at the conclusion which is popular with parochial authorities, that they being in office all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds, and that being such excellent fellows they should not be in a hurry to part, they take to telling stories to prolong the meeting, and the result is recorded in this volume. The stories have no particular novelty about them, dealing principally with love affairs and the incidents of town life, but they are smartly written, and take the reader on, and will admirably serve that great purpose for which Christmas books are mainly written, of whiling away dull half- hours in the country houses to which civilized mankind is in the habit of resorting at this period of the year.
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