31 JANUARY 1903, Page 14

Hints Young Authors. By E. H. Lacon Watson. (Grant

Richards. 2s. 6d.)—This is the second volume of "The Leicester Square Library.' It is certainly an entertaining book ; it is likely to be instructive,—the writer of this notice speaks with reserve because he is not a young author, and, by a curious chance, never had to go through the usual experiences of the class. He has been especially interested in the two chapters on reviewing, a subject which, as may easily be imagined, touches his own experiences. It is handled here with a candour and a common-sense which ought to be convincing to any intelligent reader. The sum of it all is that the average reviewer honestly does his best, and that his best is not below the best achieved in other occupations. In one respect the present writer has an experience curiously different from that of Mr. Watson. "The reviewer can hardly pick up more than one novel in any ten which is not written by a personal acquaintance." It is a fact that the writer of this notice, though he has been at the work for more than thirty years, never has known more than could be reckoned on the fingers of one hand.