30 JANUARY 1886, Page 22

Tales in the Speech-House. By Charles Grindrod. (T. Fisher Unwin.)—Two

travellers meet together in the "Speech-House," in the Forest of Dean. They are snowed up, and to wile away the time they tell each other stories, the landlord of the inn contributing a tale of his own. We cannot help saying that the story-tellers are a very long time in getting, so to speak, to business. They certainly neglect the golden maxim that he who would interest his reader or hearer must plunge in, media res. One must be shut up for a week in a country inn, with the same choice of literature that such a locality commonly affords, to appreciate Tales in the Speech-House.