The Countess Dowager. By Julia Tilt —This is a collection
of short detached tales, strung together, as is usual in such cases, in a remark- ably awkward and artificial manner. Miss Tilt prides herself upon the fact that none of these stories have been previously published, and proceeds on that account to contrast her book favourably with those which she artfully veils under the transparent pseudonyms, " The Queen of Diamonds," and " Round the Ottoman." That Miss Tilt's tales are, in this sense, original we are quite prepared to admit ; for they certainly] afford abundant internal evidence of never having been submitted to any judgment more critical than that of their author. Had such a precaution been taken, we much doubt whether The Countess Dowager would have appeared at all. At any rate, we should probably have heard nothing of such phenomena as old ladies " hatching dismal groans," girls "putting up their bird-like mouths to be kissed ;" and " unimpressible omnibus-drivers" forming part of the throng out- aide a Duke's house in Belgravia, where a ball was going on. On the whole, we are afraid that Miss Tilt may not see the fulfilment of the wish that she expresses—earnestly, no doubt, though in rather equivocal English—that her stories "may prove worthy of the notice of the public—I mean the people, their approbation ever having been the first wish of an author's heart to obtain."
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