Courtship in 1720 and 1860. By Hawley Smart. 2 vols.
(Chapman and HalL)—Mr. Hawley Smart has written two short stories, which, like most other stories, are about love-making, and finding it con- venient to publish them together, has joined them by a tie which is purely nominal, much what the tie between England and Ireland would be if the Home-rulers had their way. We have no com- plaint to make against them, except that we do not find what WO naturally expect. Courtship in 1720 is a tale of German life. A stal- wart carpenter is kidnapped by a recruiting party of that Frederick who had such a passion for tall soldiers. He is, in fact, the very carpenter who was carried off in a chest and found dead when the kidnappers opened it, only Mr. Smart has taken the liberty of altering the cata- strophe. Courtship in 1860 describes how a middle-aged soldier came home from India, and beat the indolent young fellow who had begun by despising him, in riding, in billiard-playing, in shooting, and finally, in love. Both stories are briskly told, after Mr. Smart's manner. In the latter especially he finds himself among familiar scenes, and obtains a marked success.
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